Field Emission Properties of Nitrogen-doped Amorphous Carbon Films

Nitrogen doped amorphous carbon thin films are deposited on the ceramic substrates coated with Ti film by using direct current magnetron sputtering technique at N 2 and Ar gas mixture atmosphere during deposition. The field emission properties of the deposited films have been investigated. The threshold field as low as 5.93 V/μm is obtained and the maximum current density increases from 4 μA/cm 2 to 20.67 μA/cm 2 at 10.67 V/μm comparing with undoped amorphous film. The results show that nitrogen doping plays an important role in field emission of amorphous carbon thin films.