Effect of outgassing on the field emission property of screen-printed CNTs

Abstract

To study the mechanism of current degradation of a cold cathode, the outgassing measurement of a field emission diode with screen-printed CNTs cathode has been taken with a quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS) in an ultra-high vacuum (UHV) system. It was found that the H2, CO2, and CO were outgassed from the diode during the working process. The field emission properties of the cold cathode, such as turn-on field, threshold field and the emission current density, were largely related to the pressure of the outgases. From the outgassing experimental results, the relations between the emission current degradation and the outgassing of field emission devices have been found.