M Passacantando et al 2008 Nanotechnology 19 395701 doi:10.1088/0957-4484/19/39/395701
M Passacantando1,3, F Bussolotti1,4, S Santucci1, A Di Bartolomeo2, F Giubileo2, L Iemmo2 and A M Cucolo2
Show affiliationsThe electron field emission characteristics of individual multiwalled carbon nanotubes were investigated by a piezoelectric nanomanipulation system operating inside a scanning electron microscopy chamber. The experimental set-up ensures a precise evaluation of the geometric parameters (multiwalled carbon nanotube length and diameter and anode–cathode separation) of the field emission system. For several multiwalled carbon nanotubes, reproducible and quite stable emission current behaviour was obtained, with a dependence on the applied voltage well described by a series resistance modified Fowler–Nordheim model. A turn-on field of ~30 V µm−1 and a field enhancement factor of around 100 at a cathode–anode distance of the order of 1 µm were evaluated. Finally, the effect of selective electron beam irradiation on the nanotube field emission capabilities was extensively investigated.
79.70.+q Field emission, ionization, evaporation, and desorption
61.80.Fe Electron and positron radiation effects
61.48.-c Structure of fullerenes and related hollow molecular clusters
Condensed matter: electrical, magnetic and optical
Issue 39 (1 October 2008)
Received 28 April 2008, in final form 28 June 2008
Published 11 August 2008
M Passacantando et al 2008 Nanotechnology 19 395701
Valeri P Frolov 2009 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 189 012015
Y Chen et al 2009 Smart Mater. Struct. 18 115012
E I Guendelman and A B Kaganovich 2008 Class. Quantum Grav. 25 235015
Wanli Lu et al 2009 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 42 212002
Bernd Baumann et al 2009 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 42 225209
Konstantinos Rogdakis et al 2007 Nanotechnology 18 475715
H D Cornean et al 2008 J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 41 125202
G R Yazdi et al 2009 Nanotechnology 20 495304
A E Kingston and A Hibbert 2009 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 42 185004