Screening effects on field emission from arrays of (5,5) carbon nanotubes: Quantum mechanical simulations

Abstract

The simulation of field electron emission from arrays of micrometer-long open-ended (5,5) carbon nanotubes is performed in the framework of quantum theory of many electrons. It is found that the applied external field is strongly screened when the spacing distance is shorter than the length of the carbon nanotubes. The optimal spacing distance is two to three times of the nanotube length, slightly depending on the applied external fields. The electric screening can be described by a factor that is an exponential function of the ratio of the spacing distance to the length of the carbon nanotubes. For a given length, the field enhancement factor decreases sharply as the screening factor is larger than 0.05. The simulation implies that the thickness of the array should be larger than a value, but it does not help the emission much by increasing the thickness a great deal.