In situ oxygen-assisted field emission treatment for improving the uniformity of carbon nanotube pixel arrays and the underlying mechanism

An oxygen-assisted field emission treatment is introduced for improving field emission uniformity of carbon nanotube (CNT) pixel arrays. Oxygen gas is added during the field emission process, and the uniformity of both emission area and brightness of a CNT pixel array are dramatically improved by 83% and 90%, respectively, without reducing emission stability. The underlying physical mechanism for the improvements is attributed to the fact that the oxygen oxidizes the highly emitting CNTs, resulting in their burning out. As a result, the emitting CNTs having a too high current are removed and more and more emitting CNTs with weak current can be stimulated at a higher field, leading finally to a balance of emission from each pixel in the array.

[1]  Shu‐Lin Zhang,et al.  Raman spectral research on MPCVD diamond film , 2003 .

[2]  P. J. Reucroft,et al.  X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic studies of surface modified single-walled carbon nanotube material , 2001 .

[3]  K. Utsumi,et al.  Electron emission properties of Spindt-type platinum field emission cathodes , 2004 .

[4]  Y. Saito,et al.  Field emission from carbon nanotubes and its application to electron sources , 2000 .

[5]  J. Choi,et al.  Structural degradation mechanism of multiwalled carbon nanotubes in electrically treated field emission , 2010 .

[6]  Otto Zhou,et al.  Carbon nanotube based microfocus field emission x-ray source for microcomputed tomography , 2006 .

[7]  Chang-Duk Kim,et al.  Effects of ion irradiation of screen - printed carbon nanotubes use in for field emission display applications , 2004 .

[8]  James Alastair McLaughlin,et al.  High resolution XPS characterization of chemical functionalised MWCNTs and SWCNTs , 2005 .

[9]  B. Park,et al.  Improvement of electron field emission from carbon nanotubes by Ar neutral beam treatment , 2008 .

[10]  N. Xu,et al.  Fully sealed carbon nanotube flat-panel light source and its application as thin film transistor–liquid-crystal display backlight , 2008 .

[11]  Imad Arfaoui,et al.  Can we reliably estimate the emission field and field enhancement factor of carbon nanotube film field emitters , 2002 .

[12]  Yoshimi Watanabe,et al.  Field-emission-type x-ray source using carbon-nanofibers , 2008 .

[13]  Jun Chen,et al.  Mechanism responsible for initiating carbon nanotube vacuum breakdown. , 2004, Physical review letters.

[14]  Young Hee Lee,et al.  Fully sealed, high-brightness carbon-nanotube field-emission display , 1999 .

[15]  Sung Oh Cho,et al.  Transmission-type microfocus x-ray tube using carbon nanotube field emitters , 2007 .

[16]  Vu Thien Binh,et al.  Hot nanotubes: stable heating of individual multiwall carbon nanotubes to 2000 k induced by the field-emission current. , 2002, Physical review letters.

[17]  J. M. Kim,et al.  Uniform and stable field emission from printed carbon nanotubes through oxygen trimming , 2008 .

[18]  Jun Chen,et al.  On achieving better uniform carbon nanotube field emission by electrical treatment and the underlying mechanism , 2006 .

[19]  H. Chan,et al.  Platinum Deposition on Carbon Nanotubes via Chemical Modification , 1998 .

[20]  D. Chung,et al.  Building a backlight unit with lateral gate structure based on carbon nanotube field emitters , 2009, Nanotechnology.

[21]  Y. Jin,et al.  Double-gated field emitter array with carbon nanotubes grown by chemical vapor deposition , 2006 .

[22]  W. Pompe,et al.  Reduced diameter distribution of single-wall carbon nanotubes by selective oxidation , 2002 .

[23]  Ningsheng Xu,et al.  Novel cold cathode materials and applications , 2005 .

[24]  G. Yeom,et al.  The effect of atmospheric pressure plasma treatment on the field emission characteristics of screen printed carbon nanotubes , 2007 .

[25]  M. Takai,et al.  Field emission from screen-printed carbon nanotubes irradiated by tunable ultraviolet laser in different atmospheres , 2003 .

[26]  Sungho Jin,et al.  In situ-grown carbon nanotube array with excellent field emission characteristics , 2000 .

[27]  N. Xu,et al.  Flat-panel luminescent lamp using carbon nanotube cathodes , 2003 .

[28]  H. Tsuji,et al.  Relationship between Effective Work Functions and Noise Powers of Emission Currents in Nickel-Deposited Field Emitters , 1996 .

[29]  Chung-Wei Cheng,et al.  Laser surface treatment of screen-printed carbon nanotube emitters for enhanced field emission , 2009 .

[30]  Y. C. Kim,et al.  Printed Carbon Nanotube Field Emitters for Backlight Applications , 2005 .

[31]  B. K. Song,et al.  Improvement of Field-Emission Characteristics of Carbon Nanotubes by Post Electrical Treatment , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

[32]  Leclercq,et al.  Polyacetylene in Diamond Films Evidenced by Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering. , 1996, Physical review letters.

[33]  Imad Arfaoui,et al.  A fully sealed luminescent tube based on carbon nanotube field emission , 2004, Microelectron. J..

[34]  S.Z. Deng,et al.  The frequency characteristics of a lighting element using carbon nanotube-based composite cold-cathode , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

[35]  J. Robertson,et al.  Origin of the 1 1 5 0 − cm − 1 Raman mode in nanocrystalline diamond , 2001 .

[36]  C. Chu,et al.  Uniformity enhancement of carbon nanofiber emitters via electrical discharge machining , 2007 .

[37]  Wonbong Choi,et al.  Field emission from carbon nanotubes for displays , 2000 .