P‐45: Characterization of Tungsten Nanowire Emitter Grown by Self‐catalytic Function

Abstract
We describe for the first time tungsten nanowires prepared by a simple thermal treatment of a self‐catalytic thin layer. The obtained nanowires at this work have an average diameter of 10‐50 nm showing perfect straightness. We present an application of the W‐nanowires for electron emission sources and the results obtained for the diode configuration show that field electron emission started at 4 V/um and the saturated emission current level is about 0.1mA/cm2. The field enhancement factor β of W nanowire was about 38256. This value is close to the reported field enhancement factor for carbon nanotubes. The observed results may offer a possibility for nano‐sized needle electron sources without nanolithography.
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