A simple and robust electron beam source from carbon nanotubes

Abstract
A simple fabrication method is described to produce reliable and robust (self‐repairing) field emission sources from randomly aligned carbon nanotubes. The sources display stable and reproducible current–voltage characteristics with sharp turn on near 100 V and emission currents up to 400 mA/cm2 at 200 V. Two successful methods are described for patterning the emission source area into emitting and nonemitting regions.