ELECTRON-EMISSION INDUCED MODIFICATIONS IN AMORPHOUS TETRAHEDRAL DIAMOND-LIKE CARBON

The cold-cathode electron emission properties of amorphous tetrahedral diamondlike carbon are promising for flat-panel display and vacuum mi croelectronics technologies. The onset of electron emission is, typica lly, preceded by ''conditioning'' where the material is stressed by an applied electric field. To simulate conditioning and assess its effec t, we combined the spatially localized field and current of a scanning tunneling microscope tip with high-spatial-resolution characterizatio n. Scanning force microscopy shows that conditioning alters surface mo rphology and electronic structure. Spatially resolved electron-energy- loss spectroscopy indicates that the predominant bonding configuration changes from predominantly fourfold to threefold coordination. (C) 19 98 American Institute of Physics.