Spiky diamond field emitters

An array of very sharp emitter tips, whose top curvatures were less than 10 nm, was fabricated at the surfaces of boron (B)-doped high-pressure high-temperature synthetic diamond by reactive ion etching. Electron emission from the emitter arrays was measured using a planar-diode-type I-V measurement system that can also observe a 2D mapping of emission sites by scanning an anode with a 20- mumphi pinhole. The shape of each emitter was carefully observed by scanning electron microscopy. It was found that electrons were intensely emitted from the areas where sharp emitters were successfully fabricated. In certain areas, however, electrons were not at all emitted even though very sharp emitters were formed. It was inferred that the emitters were fabricated on growth sectors that had high resistivity. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.