Simple planar field-electron emitter using highly crystalline single-walled carbon nanotubes in a triode structure with in-plane under-gate electrode

Abstract

The authors investigated the field-electron emission characteristics of a planar field-emission (FE) electron source with a planar conductive layer as a gate electrode embedded under a cathode composed of highly crystalline single-walled carbon nanotubes (hc-SWCNTs) as an emitter. They designed a flat-panel electron emission device that could control electron emission switching arbitrarily, and the device stably emitted electrons on the flat panel. After they assembled the FE electronic device using a wet chemical process, they attained low power consumption and high luminance efficiency. These results show that the application of hc-SWCNTs effectively conserves energy in FE electron sources. The fabrication of FE electron sources and other devices with ultralow power consumption, along with applications that utilize such devices, is expected in the future.