Study on effect of oxygen adsorption on characteristics of field electron emission from aligned carbon nanotubes grown by plasma-enhanced hot filament chemical vapor deposition

The characteristics of field electron emission (FE) from aligned carbon nanotubes (ACNTs) in a form of film, which were catalytically grown by plasma-enhanced hot filament chemical vapor deposition, were measured for many cycles. The results indicate that the FE characteristic for every measurement cycle is different and it follows the Fowler–Nordheim model in the low field region, but it deviates from the model in the high field region. The ACNTs were investigated by energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and the EDX spectrum shows that oxygen is adsorbed on the ACNTs. The theory related to adsorption and space-charge effect was applied to analyze the experimental results.