The effect of atmospheric pressure plasma treatment on the field emission characteristics of screen printed carbon nanotubes

The effects of pin-to-plate type atmospheric pressure plasma treatment on the field emission properties of screen printed carbon nanotubes(CNTs) were investigated using He(10 slm)/N2(0.1 slm). The plasma treatment for 10 s decreased the turn-on field from 3.13 V/μm to 1.21 V/μm, increased the emission current, and increased the number of emission sites. When, the 10 s plasma treatment was also applied to the CNTs which were previously treated by a tape activation method, the number of emission sites were further increased, therefore, the emission uniformity was improved even though, the plasma treatment on the tape-activated CNTs increased the turn-on field slightly 0.76 V/μm to 1.25 V/μm due to the removal of long CNTs.