High Field Emission Current Density from Patterned Carbon Nanotube Field Emitter Arrays with Random Growth

High field emission (FE) current density from carbon nanotube (CNT) arrays grown on lithographically patterned silicon substrates is reported. A typical patterned field emitter array consists of bundles of nanotubes separated by a fixed gap and spread over the entire emission area. Emission performance from such an array having randomly oriented nanotube growth within each bundle is reported for different bundle sizes and separations. One typical sample with aligned CNTs within the bundle is also examined for comparison. It is seen that the current density from an array having random nanotube growth within the bundles is appreciably higher as compared to its aligned counterpart. The influence of structure on FE current densities as revealed by Raman spectroscopy is also seen. It is also observed that current density depends on edge length and increases with the same for all samples under study. Highest current density of ∼100 mA cm⁻² at an applied field of 5 V/μm is achieved from the random growth patterned sample with a bundle size of 2 μm and spacing of 4 μm between the bundles.