Enhancement of electron emission efficiency and stability of molybdenum-tip field emitter array by diamond like carbon coating

Abstract
The effect of diamond like carbon (DLC) films, coated by a layer-by-layer technique using PECVD (plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition) on the electron emission characteristics of molybdenum (Mo)-tip field emitter array (FEA) is examined. The turn-on voltage was lowered from 80 V for the Mo-tip to 65 V for the DLC-coated Mo-tip FEA while the maximum emission current was increased from 140 μA for the Mo-tip to 320 μA for the DLC-coated Mo-tip FEA composed of 900 emitters. For an anode current of 0.1 (μA/emitter) the gate voltage for the DLC-coated Mo-tip FEA and Mo-tip FEA was about 87 and 107 V, respectively. It was also confirmed that the emission current of a DLC-coated Mo-tip FEA was more stable than that of a Mo-tip FEA.

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