Formation of conducting nanochannels in diamond-like carbon films

A sharp increase of the emission current at high electric fields and a decrease of the threshold voltage after pre-breakdown conditioning of diamond-like carbon (DLC) films have been measured. This effect was observed for DLC-coated silicon tips and GaAs wedges. During electron field emission (EFE) at high electric fields the energy barriers caused by an sp 3 phase between sp 2 inclusions can be broken, resulting in the formation of conducting nanochannels between the semiconductor–DLC interface and the surface of the DLC film. At high current densities and the resulting local heating, the diamond-like sp 3 phase transforms into a conducting graphite-like sp 2 phase. As a result an electrical conducting nanostructured channel is formed in the DLC film. The diameter of the conducting nanochannel was estimated from the reduced threshold voltage after pre-breakdown conditioning to be in the range of 5–25 nm. The presence of this nanochannel in an insulating matrix leads to a local enhancement of the electric field and a reduced threshold voltage for EFE. Based on the observed features an efficient method of conducting nanochannel matrix formation in flat DLC films for improved EFE efficiency is proposed. It mainly uses a silicon tip array as an upper electrode in contact with the DLC film. The formation of nanochannels starts at the interface between the tips and the DLC film. This opens new possibilities of aligned and high-density conducting channel formation.