Theories of field and thermionic electron emissions from carbon nanotubes

Liang, Shi-Dong; Chen, Lu

doi:doi:10.1116/1.3300061

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Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B / Volume 28 / Issue 2 / PAPERS FROM THE 22nd INTERNATIONAL VACUUM NANOELECTRONICS CONFERENCE / Fundamental

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J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 28, C2A50 (2010); http://dx.doi.org/10.1116/1.3300061 (8 pages)

Theories of field and thermionic electron emissions from carbon nanotubes

Shi-Dong Liang¹ and Lu Chen²

¹State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Material and Technology, School of Physics and Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, People’s Republic of China
²State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Material and Technology, School of Physics and Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, People’s Republic of China and Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, People’s Republic of China

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(Published online 31 March 2010)

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Taking into account the effect of the low-energy band structure of carbon nanotubes (CN), we develop the theories of CN field and thermionic emissions. We give the analytic field and thermionic emission equations for both metal and semiconducting CNs. These theories modify the conventional Fowler–Nordheim (FN) and Murphy–Good (MG) theories. For large-diameter CNs and high fields, the field-emission equation reduces the FN-type field-emission equation. For small-diameter CNs and low fields, the field-emission equation goes beyond the FN-type behavior, which provides a possible way to understand the non-FN behavior observed in experimental results. Based on these theories, we give the electron-emission phase diagram on the field, thermionic, and intermediate emissions in the field-temperature space, whose boundaries have a slight shift to the corresponding boundaries of MG’s theory. These differences come from the energy-band structure difference between CN and conventional emitters. This theory provides an understanding of field and thermionic emissions for nanoscale materials.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported financially by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10774194), the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program No. 2007CB935501), and the Advanced Academic Center of Sun Yat-Sen University.

Article Outline

INTRODUCTION
FIELD EMISSION
THERMIONIC EMISSION
ELECTRON EMISSION IN THE INTERMEDIATE REGION
PHASE DIAGRAM OF ELECTRON EMISSION
CONCLUSION

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KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

band structure, carbon nanotubes, electron field emission, thermionic electron emission, carbon nanotubes, field emission, thermionic emission, Flower–Nordheim theory

PACS

79.70.+q

Field emission, ionization, evaporation, and desorption
79.40.+z

Thermionic emission
73.22.-f

Electronic structure of nanoscale materials and related systems

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History

Received 10 September 2009
Accepted 4 January 2010
Published online 31 March 2010

Digital Object Identifier

http://dx.doi.org/10.1116/1.3300061

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

1071-1023 (print)

1520-8567 (online)

Publisher

American Vacuum Society

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