Field emission property of arrayed nanocrystalline diamond

Arrays of nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) stripes were fabricated by plasma etching of a NCD film. Electron field emission (EFE) of NCD arrays with 100-μm-wide stripes separated by different spacings was analyzed. The NCD arrays had higher EFE efficacy than the non-patterned blanket NCD film. The turn-on electric field (Eon) decreased from 5.4 V/μm-1 for the blanket NCD film to 4.2, 4.4 and 4.7 V/μm− 1 for the NCD arrays with 100, 500 and 1000 μm of spacing, respectively. Both the effective emitting area and the field enhancement factor for the NCD emitters were increased by patterning. The enhanced EFE from arrayed NCD stripes was possibly attributed to the edge effect and reduction of electrostatic screening.

Research highlights
► Patterned nanocrystalline diamond has high electron emission efficiency.
► Decreasing space between diamond stripes increases electron emission efficiency.
► Edge effect dominates mechanism for EFE from patterned diamond.
► Area for electron emission is increased with edge length of diamond stripes.