Electron field emission from undoped and doped DLC films

Conference · Thu Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1999

OSTI ID:11327

Chakhovskoi, A G ^[1]; Felter, T E; Kudzinocaky, S Y; Litovchenko, V G; Litvin, Y M

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1. LLNL

In this presentation the electron field emission and electrical conductivity of undoped and nitrogen doped DLC films have been investigated. Undoped and nitrogen doped DLC films were grown by PE CVD from CH{sub 4}:H{sub 2} and CH{sub 4}:H{sub 2}:N{sub 2} gas mixtures, correspondingly. During nitrogen doped DLC film deposition, the nitrogen content in the gas mixture was varied within the range 0 to 45%. In-situ gas-phase doping allowed them to deposit DLC films with different content nitrogen. DLC films were deposited under three different levels of gas pressure in the chamber: 0.2, 0.6 and 0.8 Torr. The measurements of emission current from samples were performed in the vacuum system which could be pumped to a stable pressure of 10{sup {minus}6} Torr. The emission current was measured in the diode structure. The emitter-anode spacing L was constant and equal to 20 {micro}m. The current-voltage characteristics of the Si field electron emission arrays covered with undoped and nitrogen doped DLC films show that at the beginning the threshold voltage (V{sub th}) increases remarkably with nitrogen content, then V{sub th} is observed to decrease and finally V{sub th} increases. Corresponding Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) plots follow F-N tunneling over a wide range. The F-N plots were used for determination of the work functions, threshold voltage, field enhancement factors, and effective emission areas. For the qualitative explanation of experimental results, they treat the DLC film as a diamond-like (sp{sup 3}-bonds) matrix with graphite-like inclusions in it.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Defense Programs (DP) (US)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 11327
• Report Number(s): UCRL-JC-134060; YN0100000; YN0100000
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
DEPOSITION
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRON EMISSION
ELECTRONS
FIELD EMISSION
MIXTURES
NITROGEN
TUNNELING
VACUUM SYSTEMS
WORK FUNCTIONS