Field emission enhancement of diamond tips utilizing boron doping and surface treatment

A practical field emission enhancement technique for diamond tips with sp(2 ) content utilizing boron doping and surface treatment, achieving a very lo w turn-on electric held of 1 V/mu m, has been developed. The effects of sur face treatment and boron doping on electron field emission from an array of micropatterned polycrystalline diamond microtips with sp(2) content have b een systematically investigated. Regardless of doping, the field emission c haracteristics of diamond tips are significantly enhanced and the turn-on e lectric field is reduced more than 60% after surface treatment. Likewise, r egardless of surface treatment, the turn-on electric field of the diamond t ips with sp(2) content decreases substantially with boron doping. Possible mechanisms responsible for the held emission enhancement are an increase in the field enhancement factor due to hole accumulation via the formation of cascaded sp(2)-diamond-sp(2) embedded microstructures and field forming pr ocess with enhanced hole accumulation after surface treatment. (C) 1999 Pub lished by Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.