Large current density from carbon nanotube field emitters

We observe that field emitters made from carbon nanotubes exhibit excellent macroscopic emission properties; they can operate at a very large current density, as high as 4 A/cm². At electric fields as low as 4-7 V/μm, they emit technologically useful current densities of 10 mA/cm². We show that the emission originates from nanotube ends with a characteristic structured ring pattern. The emission characteristics and durability of the carbon nanotube cold cathodes offer promising applications for vacuum microelectronic devices.Dr Kochanski is now based at the University of Oxford Phonetics Laboratory. Citation: Zhu, W. et al. (1999). 'Large current density from carbon nanotube field emitters', Applied Physics Letters, 75(6), 873-875. [Available at http://apl.aip.org/]