Suspended Carbon Nanotube Lateral Field Emitters and Receivers

Abstract

We fabricated suspended carbon nanotube lateral field emitters and receivers that are efficient, operational at low bias voltage, scalable to large scale, and able to be integrated into the conventional electronic devices. They grew from ~120-nm-thick, 100-μm-long, and 20-μm-wide floating parallel electrodes formed on silicon substrates with thick thermal silicon oxide. From the 100-μm-long cathode and anode electrode with the separation of 20 μm, the field emission current density of 10 mA/cm ² was observed at as low as 27 V or 1.35 V/μm.