HIGH AVERAGE EMISSION SITES DENSITY OF ELECTRON FIELD-EMISSION FROM BROAD AREA DIAMOND-AMORPHOUS CARBON THIN-FILMS

Diamond-amorphous carbon films were deposited on metal Mo substrates b y using microwave chemical vapor deposition technique and masked techn ique(the Mo substrates were pretreated by special techniques). Round a rea of diamond-amorphous carbon films is 0.780 +/- 0.001 cm(2) The fil ms were characterized by x-ray diffraction Raman spectrum, optical mic roscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The result of experiment in dicates that diamond-amorphous carbon films with graphite particulates surface morphologies and diamond submicrosized crystalline grains loc ated in it were obtained. Based on this, a novel electron field emissi on device was made. The lowest turn-on field of 1V/mu m, high average emission current density of 8.0 +/- 0.1 mA/cm(2), and high average emi ssion sites density of (2.00 +/- 0.03)x10(3) sites/cm(2) from a broad well-proportioned emission area of 0.780 +/- 0.001 cm(2) were obtained , and the smaller the graphite particulate, the better the emission ch aracter. Field enhancement due to a 'projection on a projection' geome try could be a partial explanation of the results.