KrF laser surface treatment of CNT cathodes

Abstract

Carbon nanotube (CNT) cathodes prepared with various pastes are irradiated by KrF laser light with different power densities and homogenous spot beam. The turn-on field is lowest with the homogeneous spot beam. The characteristics are improved greatly by adding glass fillers to the paste. The turn-on field is as low as 0.34 V//spl mu/m and the emission density is as high as 5.88 mA/cm/sup 2/ at a field of 2 V//spl mu/m by KrF laser irradiation. Homogeneous emission-site distribution could be obtained by a homogeneous laser beam irradiation.