Electron emission performance of nitrogen-doped hydrogen-free diamond-like carbon coating on Mo-Tip field emitter arrays

Nitrogen gas phase doped diamond-like carbon (DLC) coating on molybdenum-tip field emitter arrays (FEAs) has been used to improve electron emission characteristics. The conventional plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition method using a layer-by-layer technique was applied to deposit N-doped hydrogen-free DLC films. Electron emission characteristics were measured and the possibility of applying these type of emitters to high frequency field emission displays was reported. The turn-on voltage of Mo-tip FEAs was decreased from 75 to 55 V by DLC coating and emission current was more stable than that of conventional Mo-tip FEAs. The transconductance of Mo-tip FEAs was increased by N-doped hydrogen-free DLC coating with lowering effective work function of emitters. (C) 2000 American Vacuum Society. [S0734-211X(00)06502-1].