Improved emission stability of single-walled carbon nanotube field emitters by plasma treatment

We investigated the effect of plasma treatment on single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) field emitters, which were fabricated by printing a photoimageable SWCNT paste, to improve emission lifetime. The treatment was performed by applying a dc pulsed voltage between two electrodes, where the cathode was the SWCNT emitter to be treated and the anode was a bare indium-doped tin oxide glass, under inert gas (Xe∕Ne) atmosphere. With increasing applied voltage and treatment time, the stability of the emission current at a constant electric field is improved, while the field to reach a required emission current becomes high. We attribute the improved emission stability to the removal of a small portion of protruding emitters, which dominate initial emission characteristics. The elimination of small number of prominent emitters allows a greater number of emitters to be active on emission with a compensation for higher electric-field application. We expect that the plasma treatment introduced in this letter will provide a quick and easy way to improve emission lifetime, which is essential for the commercialization of field emission display.