Field Emission Properties of Carbon Nanotubes and Its Application to Flat Panel Display
Seiji AKITA, Syoji Matsumoto, Akisige Murakami and Yoshikazu NAKAYAMA
Abstract:We have investigated field emission properties from an individual carbon nanotube protruded ~45 m from a tungsten needle tip. The I-V characteristics of the field emitter show no emitter-collector gap dependence at a gap less than 310 m. This experimental result is explained by an analysis under a consideration of the nonuniform electric field near the tip of the nanotube. The tip radius of 2.7 nm, which is obtained from the analysis, is consistent with the average tip radius of nanotubes. The field emission device for a flat panel display consisting of the well perpendicularly aligned carbon nanotube array is fabricated by the catalytic chemical vapor deposition using C2H2 as source gas. Patterned emission device is easily obtained by patterning the catalyst. The threshold voltage for the field emission decreases from 400 V to 150 V by the thermal treatment in air at 700 for 8 min. We also demonstrate that the diode type display consisting of a phosphor coated electrode and the nanotube device emits strong and uniform luminescence. Key Words:Carbon nanotube, Electron field emission, Fowler-Nordheim plot, Flat panel display