Low‐Temperature Fabrication of Cold Cathode WO2 Nanowire Arrays on Glass Substrate and Improvement of their Working Performance

Abstract

WO2 nanowires have great potential as cold cathode materials because they exhibit excellent field‐emission properties in terms of their low work function and high conductivity. Considering the requirements of the practical applications in large‐area cold‐cathode devices, such as X‐ray source and panel display, these nanostructures are desired to be fabricated on glass substrate and integrated into devices. It is best known that the studies on WO2 nanowire cold cathode arrays grown on glass‐substrate are absent so far, which remains a challenge for the researchers. In the current study, procedures for fabrication of WO2 nanowire cold cathode arrays, which consist of 22000 separated patterns on 1.2 in. glass wafer are developed. It is found that the turn‐on and threshold field of the nanowire arrays are, respectively, 6.6 and 9.3 V µm−1. In addition, the performance of the cold cathode arrays is strongly affected by the distribution of the nanowire density as well as the thickness of Al electrode. By modifying the fabrication techniques, over 82% patterns can contribute to the emission, whereby a maximum current density can reach 1.89 mA cm−2. Such a value can fulfill the basic requirement of the large‐area cold cathode devices. The research can pave the way for fabrication of high‐performance cold cathode devices using glass‐substrates.