Improved field emission properties from carbon nanotubes grown onto micron-sized arrayed silicon pillars with pyramidal bases

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were synthesized onto micron-sized arrayed silicon (Si) pillars with pyramidal bases in order to mitigate the electric-field-screening due to densely grown CNTs. Compared with the CNT emitters grown on a flat Si substrate, CNT emitters grown on arrayed Si pillars showed improved field emission properties with a low turn-on field of 2.16V/μm at 10μA/cm2 and current density of 550μA/cm2 at 3.46V/μm. Field enhancement factor was calculated according to the Fowler–Nordheim theory. The resultant field enhancement factor of CNT emitters on arrayed Si pillars was higher than that of CNT emitters on a flat substrate, which revealed that the formation of arrayed Si pillars could be an effective method to suppress electric-field-screening among adjacent CNT emitters.