Effect of particle size and inter-electrode distance on the field-emission properties of nanocrystalline CdS thin films grown in a polymer matrix by chemical bath deposition

The field-emission property of transparent nanocrystalline US thin films, grown by chemical bath deposition (CBD) within the pores of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) on Si and glass substrates, has been studied. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy studies confirmed the nanocrystalline nature of the US particles with sizes lying in the range 6-12 nm. The Fowler-Nordhiem plots of the emission current from the nano-CdS/PVA thin films are almost straight line. The turn-on fields of the grown nano-CdS/PVA thin films are found to be in the range of 3.6-6.6 V/mu m. The turn-on field decreases with the decrease of particle size. Only PVA thin film and bulk CdS/PVA composite thin film grown on Si substrates have not showed field-emission property under the same conditions. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V.