Fabrication of Ni-matrix carbon nanotube field emitters using composite electroplating and micromachining

Ni-matrix carbon nanotube (CNT) field emitters have been fabricated by composite electroplating and micromachining (CEMM) at room temperature. Pretreated multi-walled CNT and Ni are deposited onto a Cr/Cu conducting layer by composite electroplating and protruding tips of CNTs are obtained as emitters by etching away a layer of Ni, followed by emitter pixels which are formed by micromachining. Through the process of CEMM, CNTs are vertically embedded in the flat Ni substrate. No further treatment is needed to initiate or augment field emission and the field emitters exhibit good field-emission properties such as high current density (13 mA cm−2 at an applied electric field of 3.4 V μm−1), low turn-on field (0.53 V μm−1), and good stability (110 h for 10% degradation of current density from 400 μA cm−2).