Cold cathode electron emission properties of nanocrystalline diamond thin films

Contributors:   A.R. Krauss, T.G. McCauley, D.M. Gruen, M. Ding, T. Corrigan, O. Auciello, R.P.H. Chang, M. Kordesch, Robert J. Nemanich, S. English, A. Breskin, and E. Shefer

ABSTRACT

Several methods for producing nanocrystalline diamond thin films with electron emission thresholds in the 2-5 volt/micron range are developed. The films are grown in Ar-C60-H2, Ar-CH4, Ar-CH4-H2, Ar-CH4-N2, and N2-CH4 microwave plasmas, and with grain sizes ranging from approximately 5 to 100 nm and differs in morphology and electronic properties. Photoemission yields and STM images indicate that topographically enhanced electric fields may play a role in the low thresholds observed for some of these films; however, for other films, the required field enhancement is much too large to be explained in terms of local surface topography on a diamond surface, but the observed low emission thresholds appear to be associated with enhanced interband state density.

Publisher: Proceedings of the IEEE International Vacuum Microelectronics Conference, IVMC,   186-187 ||  Published: 1998-07 ||   Read more...