Study on effect of oxygen adsorption on characteristics of field electron emission from aligned carbon nanotubes grown by plasma-enhanced hot filament chemical vapor deposition

摘要

The characteristics of field electron emission (FE) from aligned carbon nanotubes (ACNTs) in a form of film, which were catalytically grown by plasma-enhanced hot filament chemical vapor deposition, were measured for many cycles. The results indicate that the FE characteristic for every measurement cycle is different and it follows the Fowler-Nordheim model in the low field region, but it deviates from the model in the high field region. The ACNTs were investigated by energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and the EDX spectrum shows that oxygen is adsorbed on the ACNTs. The theory related to adsorption and space-charge effect was applied to analyze the experimental results.