Femtosecond laser machining: A new technique to fabricate carbon nanotube based emitters

Hong, Nguyen Tuan; Baek, In Hyung; Rotermund, Fabian; Koh, Ken Ha; Lee, Soonil

doi:doi:10.1116/1.3333515

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

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J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 28, C2B38 (2010); http://dx.doi.org/10.1116/1.3333515 (5 pages)

Femtosecond laser machining: A new technique to fabricate carbon nanotube based emitters

Nguyen Tuan Hong, In Hyung Baek, Fabian Rotermund, Ken Ha Koh, and Soonil Lee

Division of Energy Systems Research, Ajou University, Suwon 443-749, Korea

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(Published online 29 March 2010)

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A convenient and facile method to fabricate cathodes for efficient field-electron emission, which consists of columns of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs), is presented. The new top-down approach that uses femtosecond laser pulses to make a VACNT-column array starting from a mat of VACNTs is versatile in making diverse cathode architecture because the synthesis and sculpturing processes are completely decoupled. Moreover, this laser-machining process is scalable for the fabrication of large size cathodes. Test of field-electron emission from a typical laser-machined cathode showed a promising result. Emission currents of 0.10 μA and 0.57 mA were measured at the respective applied fields of 0.76 and 1.47 V/μm from a cathode that consisted of a 5×5 array of VACNT columns. The total cathode area occupied by the 5×5 VACNT columns was 0.80×0.80 mm² while the net area of 25 VACNT columns’ top surfaces was 1.00×10⁻² mm². The stability of the 5×5 VACNT-column array was proved by the continuous operation at the current level of 0.3 mA for 30 h without catastrophic failure.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (Grant No. R01-2008-000-20689-0), and by the Priority Research Centers Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (Grant No.2009–0094049). F.R. acknowledges support from the Korea Science and Engineering (Grant No. R0A-2007-000-20113-0).

Article Outline

INTRODUCTION
EXPERIMENT
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
CONCLUSION

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KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

carbon nanotubes, cathodes, electron field emission, laser beam machining, nanotechnology, carbon nanotubes (CNTs)

PACS

42.62.Cf

Industrial applications
06.60.Vz

Workshop procedures (welding, machining, lubrication, bearings, etc.)
79.70.+q

Field emission, ionization, evaporation, and desorption
81.16.-c

Methods of micro- and nanofabrication and processing

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History

Received 15 September 2009
Accepted 4 February 2010
Published online 29 March 2010

Digital Object Identifier

http://dx.doi.org/10.1116/1.3333515

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

1071-1023 (print)

1520-8567 (online)

Publisher

American Vacuum Society

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