Influence of the growth temperature on electron field-emission stability of the carbon nanotubes’ field emitters

For vacuum-based electron field-emission device application, CNTs can be a promising field emitter candidate due to the high aspect ratio, superior electrical and thermal properties, and nanoscale tip geometry. In the present work, we study the growth temperature influence on the emission stability of CNT field emitters. The growth and quality of field emitters were controlled by the growth temperature confirmed by FESEM micrograph and Raman spectra. The present study reveals the decline in the turn-on (E_to) field (2.154 → 2.012 V/µm) and threshold (E_th) field (2.628 → 2.429 V/µm) on rising the growth temperature and increment in the emission current density (J) (245.63 → 410.24 µA/cm² @ 3.06 V/µm field) as well. Furthermore, as the growth temperature increased, the emission stability improved, which might be attributed to the controlled growth of field emitters and the screening effect diminishing with growth temperature. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.].