Abstract
We have already reported superior characteristics of field emission from hafnium carbide (HfC)-coated Si field emission arrays. To clarify the microscopic feature of HfC films related to electron emission, the topograph and local work function (LWF) of the HfC film deposited on Si(100) substrates are examined in an atomic scale by using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). From the STM/LWF images of the sputtering-cleaned film, it is revealed that the HfC film consists of grains with about 10 nm in size, and that the surface stoichiometry at the grain boundaries becomes carbon rich due to preferential sputtering after higher energy argon ion sputtering.
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