Field emission characteristics of diamond coated silicon field emitters

Abstract

Single crystal silicon field emitters have been modified by surface deposition of diamond using bias-enhanced microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition. Polycrystalline diamond with a high nucleation density (1010/cm2) and small grain size (<20 nm) was achieved on silicon field emitters. Field emission from these diamond coated emitters exhibited significant enhancement both in total emission current and stability compared to pure silicon emitters. A large effective emitting area comparable to the tip surface area was obtained from a Fowler–Nordheim analysis. The effective work function of the polycrystalline diamond coated emitter surface was found to be larger than that of a pure silicon emitter surface.