High-current-density field emission from multiwalled carbon nanotubes by chemical-vapor deposition with effective aging treatment

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes have been grown on silicon substrates coated with nickel-catalyst films by chemical-vapor deposition using mixtures of acetylene and nitrogen. An effective aging treatment was carried out before the field-emission measurement of carbon-nanotube samples. The results show that the turn-on field is 1.8V∕μm at 2μA emission current and that the highest emission current of 13mA at the electrical field of 23V∕μm. This corresponds to the field-emission current density of 414mA∕cm2. Some discussions about the long growing time of carbon nanotubes, the aging process, and high-current field emission are given.