High Current Emission from Patterned Aligned Carbon Nanotubes Fabricated by Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition

Vertically, carbon nanotube (CNT) arrays were successfully fabricated on hexagon patterned Si substrates through radio frequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition using gas mixtures of acetylene (C2H2) and hydrogen (H2) with Fe/Al2O3 catalysts. The CNTs were found to be graphitized with multi-walled structures. Different H2/C2H2 gas flow rate ratio was used to investigate the effect on CNT growth, and the field emission properties were optimized. The CNT emitters exhibited excellent field emission performance (the turn-on and threshold fields were 2.1 and 2.4 V/μm, respectively). The largest emission current could reach 70 mA/cm(2). The emission current was stable, and no obvious deterioration was observed during the long-term stability test of 50 h. The results were relevant for practical applications based on CNTs.