Field emission from 4.5 in. single-walled and multiwalled carbon nanotube films

Abstract

Field emission properties of 4.5 in. flat panel displays in a diode type panel using single-walled (SWNTs) and multiwalled carbon nanotube tips (MWNTs) were characterized and compared. The panel, fabricated by a slurry squeezing and surface rubbing technique, enables the generation of more emission sites by removing materials on the surface. The turn-on field of MWNTs decreased from 6.4 to 3 V/μm by treatment of the surface, and that of SWNTs also decreased, from 4.5 to 2 V/μm. The density of aligned MWNTs is approximately 2/μm2, whereas the aligned SWNTs were uniformly distributed, with densities of 5–10/μm2. As a result, SWNT films show higher emission uniformity than MWNT films. A gradual degradation over time was observed in both MWNTs and SWNTs. The current stability curve of the SWNTs decreased about 20%, while that of the MWNTs decreased less than 10%.