Fabrication and characterization of lateral field emission device based on carbon nanotubes

We have proposed and fabricated a vertical lateral field emission device (LFED) based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs). It combines high-performance nanomaterials with mature solid-state fabrication technology to produce miniaturized vacuum devices with superior field emission characteristics. The techniques employed are very simple and allow for good reproducibility in controlling the short distance from the polysilicon anode to the CNTs cathode inter-electrode distance. The inter-electrode gap can be easily fabricated to be less than 1 mu m by a wet etching process without using fine lithography. The CNTs were selectively grown using a microwave-plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system (MPCVD). The anode-to-emitter gap distance and the length of carbon nanotubes are well controlled to enable investigation of their effect on the field emission properties. The turn-on voltage of the fabricated device with an inter-electrode gap of 0.53 mu m is as low as 0.2V, and the emission current is as high as 9.72mA at 10V. The emission current fluctuation is approximately +/- 3.5% for 1500s.