Effects of Interfacial Electron Transport on Field Electron Emission from Carbon Nanotube Paste Emitters.

Field electron emission from carbon nanotubes (CNT) is preceded by the transport of electrons from the cathode metal to emission sites. Specifically, a supporting layer indispensable for adhesion of CNT paste emitters onto the cathode metal would impose a potential barrier, depending on its work function and interfacial electron transport behaviors. In this paper, we investigated the supporting layer of silicon carbide and nickel nanoparticles reacted onto a Kovar alloy (Fe-Ni-Co) cathode substrate, which has been adopted for reliable CNT paste emitters.

Enhanced interfacial reaction of silicon carbide fillers onto the metal substrate in carbon nanotube paste for reliable field electron emitters.

Adhesion of carbon nanotube (CNT) onto a cathode substrate is very crucial for field electron emitters that are operating under high electric fields. As a supporting precursor of CNT field emitters, we adopted silicon carbide (SiC) nano-particle fillers with Ni particles and then enhanced interfacial reactions onto Kovar-alloy substrates through the optimized wet pulverization process of SiC aggregates for reliable field electron emitters. As-purchased SiC aggregates were efficiently pulverized from 20 to less than 1 micro-meter in a median value (D50).