Field emission properties of silicon carbide and diamond-like carbon (DLC) films made by chemical vapour deposition techniques

Chemical vapour-deposited (CVD) amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC) and diamond-like cal bon (DLC) thin films were realised on p-type silicon field emitter arrays (FEAs) in order to investigate their field emission properties. The FEA geometry was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the film morphology by scanning force microscopy (SFM) and by SEM?, and the film structure by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Field emission properties of FEAs were determined in high vacuum conditions. a-SiC/p-Si in comparison with DLC/p-Si emitter arrays have higher current emission at lower external fields. The upper limits of the field emission current densities were 2.4 mA/cm(2) for an electric field of 25 V/mu m in the case of SiC and 0.8 mA/cm(2) for the electric field of 42 V/mu m in the case of DLC films. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.