Synthesis and field emission of β-SiC nanowires on silicon nanoporous pillar array

► β-SiC nanowires were grown on silicon nanoporous pillar array by a CVD method. ► Low turn-on field and high enhancement factor were obtained in nw-SiC/Si-NPA. ► Enhanced field-emission was due to the hierarchy structure of nw-SiC/Si-NPA.