Effect of particle size and inter-electrode distance on the field-emission properties of nanocrystalline CdS thin films grown in a polymer matrix by chemical bath deposition

The field-emission property of transparent nanocrystalline CdS thin films, grown by chemical bath deposition (CBD) within the pores of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) on Si and glass substrates, has been studied. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy studies confirmed the nanocrystalline nature of the CdS particles with sizes lying in the range 6–12 nm. The Fowler–Nordhiem plots of the emission current from the nano-CdS/PVA thin films are almost straight line. The turn-on fields of the grown nano-CdS/PVA thin films are found to be in the range of 3.6–6.6 V/μm. The turn-on field decreases with the decrease of particle size. Only PVA thin film and bulk CdS/PVA composite thin film grown on Si substrates have not showed field-emission property under the same conditions.