Direct growth of aligned carbon nanotube field emitter arrays onto plastic substrates

The direct growth of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes onto flexible plastic substrates using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition is reported. We show that individual lines and dots of free-standing 20–50 nm diameter nanotubes can be grown onto chromium covered commercially available polyimide foil. The scalable deposition method allows large area coverage without degrading or bending the sensitive substrate material. Field emission measurements show a low turn-on field (3.2 V/μm) and a low threshold field (4.2 V/μm). The result establishes a method of flexible field emitter fabrication, which is well suited for display production and integration of nanotubes into plastic electronics.