Field emission from chemical vapor deposited diamond and diamond-like carbon films: Investigations of surface damage and conduction mechanisms

Field emission properties of undoped chemical vapor deposited diamond and diamond-like carbon films have been measured for a variety of different deposition conditions. The nature and appearance of the damage site after testing has been investigated with scanning electron microscopy and laser Raman mapping. These observations, together with the mathematical form of the observed current–voltage relations, are correlated with the conductivity of the film. The results are consistent with a model for the overall emission current that combines conduction mechanisms through the bulk of the film with Fowler–Nordheim tunneling.