Carbon nanotube emitters for field emission displays

Abstract

Many prototypes of FED device were realized by conical microtips of Mo or Si, which is called Spindt-type field emitters. The displays performed good characteristics, but the principal issues are the limited display area and manufacturing cost. We intended to overcome these issues by new material, that is Carbon Nanotubes(CNTs). The CNTs have been discovered by Prof. Sumio Iijima in 1991. In 1995, field emission from an isolated single CNT was first reported by Dr. Rinzler et al., and field emission from a CNT film was reported by Dr. de Heer et al. Subsequently, many studies on field emission were reported under the academic interest. But neither industrial fabrication technology nor performance had been reported for practical display applications.