Electron field emission from nanostructured cubic boron nitride islands

Journal Article · Mon Jan 07 00:00:00 EST 2008 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2830006· OSTI ID:21016267

Teii, Kungen; Matsumoto, Seiichiro; Robertson, John ^[1]

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1. Department of Applied Science for Electronics and Materials, Kyushu University, Kasuga, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan and Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0FA (United Kingdom)

Nanocrystal-assembled cubic boron nitride (cBN) islands are formed by using low-energy ({approx}20 eV) ion irradiation in an inductively coupled fluorine-containing plasma. The temporal evolution of surface morphology and roughness reveals three-dimensional island growth for initial sp{sup 2}-bonded BN and subsequent cBN, accompanied by a high frequency of renucleation. The formation of cBN islands enhances the field emission and reduces the turn-on field down to around 9 V/{mu}m due to an increase in the island-related field. The results demonstrate the high potential of cBN for field emitters, comparable to other wide band gap semiconductors.

• OSTI ID: 21016267
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 92, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2830006; (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
BORON NITRIDES
CRYSTAL GROWTH
ELECTRONS
FIELD EMISSION
FLUORINE
MAGNETIC ISLANDS
MORPHOLOGY
NANOSTRUCTURES
PLASMA
ROUGHNESS
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS