Field electron emission from carbon-containing thin films

Abstract

Details are given of an experimental study of field electron emission phenomenon associated with two types of carbon containing thin film, i.e. non-doped fullerene C60 and amorphous diamond films. A transparent anode imaging technique was used to record the spatial distribution of individual emission sites and the total emission current-voltage (I-V) characteristic of the films. This study has revealed that stable electron emission can be obtained from both types of film at fields as low as 3 - 6 MV/m. A quasi-direct tunneling model is proposed to explain the observed emission.