Field-emission characteristics of hydrogenated amorphous carbon films prepared by surface wave plasma

Hydrogenated amorphous carbon films are prepared by a 40-cm-diameter planar surface wave plasma to apply them to field-emission display. The 2.45 GHz surface wave plasmas at 700W give a film deposition rate of similar to 15 nm/min in He gas mixed with a small amount of methane gas at a relatively low pressure of 100 to 200 mTorr. Preliminary experimental results show that the hydrogenated amorphous carbon films deposited on silicon substrates have good field-emission characteristics: a threshold electric field defined at 1 mu A/cm(2) was roughly 4 V/mu m and an emission current of 0.1 mA/cm(2) was achieved at an electric field of 7.5 V/mu m.