Effects of high-density oxygen plasma posttreatment on field emission properties of carbon nanotube field-emission displays

The effects of oxygen plasma posttreatment (PPT) on the morphology and field emission properties of carbon nanotube (CNT) arrays grown on silicon substrates are proposed and experimental results are reported. Oxygen PPT led to an enhancement in the emission properties of CNTs, which showed an increase in total emission current density and a decrease in turn-on field after plasma treatment. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed reduced densities of the CNTs, which resulted in a decrease of the screening effect in the electric field. Raman spectra showed an increase in the number of defects which served as field-emission sites when the plasma power or treatment time with the plasma increased. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images were used to identify the quality of the nanotubes, so that we could clearly find evidences of improvement in the field emission properties after plasma treatment. The measurement of electrical characteristics revealed improved field emission properties under proper plasma conditions. The turn-on field decreased from 4.8 to 2.5 V/mu m, and the emission current density increased from 78.7 mu A/cm(2) to 18 mA/cm(2) at an applied field of 5.5 V/mu m.