Fabrication of self-defined gated field emission devices on silicon substrates using PECVD-grown carbon nano-tubes

Fabrication of novel self-defined gated field-emission devices on silicon substrates using vertically grown carbon nano-tubes (CNT) is reported. Carbon nano-tubes are grown in a PECVD reactor from the Ni catalyst islands at a pressure of 1.6 Torr with a mixture of C2H2 and H2 gases with 5 and 30 sccm flows, respectively. The growth occurs at temperatures ranging between 550 and 650 °C and CNT’s are electrically isolated by a TiO2 film. Silver is used as the metal gate and complete fabrication of transistors requires removing the insulating layer from top of the tip followed by one step of plasma ashing. With a voltage applied between gate and the cathode electrode, the emission current from cathode to anode shows a significant drop, indicating proper control of gate on the anode current.