Suppression of oxidation of metal emitters by incorporating ruthenium oxide

We fabricated the RuO2 incorporated metal emitters for the cathode of the field emission display in order to improve the drawback of easy oxidation of traditional Spindt-type emitters. The as-deposited RuO2 incorporated Ta film shows the amorphous structure, which is stable up to 800 °C in air ambient. The Ta is bound to oxygen and the RuO2 exists in the form of nanocrystalline and nonstoichiometric phase of RuOx. The RuO2 incorporated Ta film coated emitters and annealed emitters showed good emission results, comparable to pure Ta emitters, and did not oxidize up to 800 °C in air ambient due to their good chemical inertness for the oxygen gas. Therefore, it is expected that the RuO2 incorporated Ta film coated emitters can be easily applied to the fabrication process for field emitters with wide process windows.