Field emission behavior of vertically aligned ZnO nanowire planar cathodes.

Field emission behavior of vertically aligned ZnO nanowire planar cathodes.

Planar surfaces covered with vertically aligned (VA) 

field emitters have proved to be efficient electron sources for 

micronanoelectronic applications. Initiated by the introduction of Spindt-type microtips, 

it was the input of VA-carbon

nanotubes (VA-CNTs) directly grown on a planar surface 

that has focused the attention to the possibility of using onedimensional nanostructures—i.e., nanotubes or nanowires—

as alternative routes for preparing planar cathodes.

A field emission (FE) study by scanning anode field emission microscopy was performed to evaluate the FE properties of vertically aligned zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowire arrays electrodeposited on a plane conductive surface.An effective surface barrier of about 1 eV was determined from the experimental "Fowler-Nordheim plot" and the presence of a Zn enriched surface was assumed in considering the possibility of important modifications of the crystallography and charge transfers at the surface of ZnO nanowires during the application of the strong electric field required for FE.

In conclusion the VA-ZnO nanowires present many advantages thatmake them a good candidate as a material for planar FE cathode. We can highlight two of them, a straightforward growthprocess by electrodeposition directly on the surface of a rigid or flexible large area substrate and a low turn-on voltage, in the range of 6 V/lm, for FE.

The original paper is in:

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=20&hid=104&sid=decf8496-8668-4b9a-93d7-2fcdb9eea757%40sessionmgr115&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=59308933