Field emission properties of diamondlike carbon films made by a novel laser evaporation technique

Field emission properties of nonhydrogenated diamondlike carbon (DLC) films prepared by a novel laser evaporation technique have been investigated. A key feature of the novel technique is using a scanning pulsed laser beam that irradiates a graphite target with a focused beam and constant laser power density. The technique has the main advantage of easy scale-up for uniform and large area coating. The results show that the DLC films exhibit an electron emission threshold field as low as 10 V/mu m and a current density of 100 mA/cm(2) at 40 V/mu m. Additionally, a bright image of cathodoluminescence has been obtained successfully from a fully frit-sealed diode-structured field emission display using the DLC film emitters. (C) 1998 American Vacuum Society.