Fabrication and Characterization of Low Turn-On Voltage Carbon Nanotube Field Emission Triodes

Based on selective growth, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for low turn-on voltage field emission triodes have been grown via microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The triode devices fabricated with standard integrated circuit process contain 4 × 4 emitting cells with extraction gates and each individual cell is 4 μm in diameter. With the phosphor-coated indium tin oxide glass as the anode away from the CNTs triodes with ∼1 mm above, the triode devices achieved low turn-on gate voltage of 30 V and high emission current density of 0.7 A/cm 2 at 50 V. The results exhibit CNTs for potential application in field emission display.