Field emission characteristics of boron nitride films deposited on Si substrates with cubic boron nitride crystal grains

Field emission characteristics are investigated for boron nitride (BN) films deposited on Si substrates with cubic (c-)BN crystal grains. A comparative study of field emission characteristics is performed for the BN samples with and without c-BN grains. The turn-on electric fields are 7 and 18 V/mum for the BN samples with and without c-BN grains, respectively. A significant reduction in the turn-on electric field of the electron emission is found for the sample with c-BN grains. Fowler-Nordheim plots of the field emission characteristics suggest a variation in the field enhancement factor between the BN samples with and without c-BN crystal grains. It is also found that c-BN crystal grains are effective in increasing electron emission area. (C) 2001 American Vacuum Society.