Study on field emission characteristics of carbon nanotube arrays patterned via laser welding of dissimilar materials

Abstract

This paper describes a new method of growing carbon nanotube (CNT) arrays using laser welding of a catalyst metal onto the surface of a quartz substrate, followed by CNT growth through the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. A major advantage of this method is its ability to pattern the catalyst before growing the CNTs, thus allowing for the formation of CNTs at specific locations. The laser pre-treatment method minimized structural damage to CNTs in comparison to the laser post-processing method, achieving a lower I_D/I_G value of 0.72 in Raman spectroscopy analysis. Using hexagonally patterned CNT arrays on quartz, we achieve a field emission current density exceeding 1.3 mA/cm² with a reduced turn-on field of 1.85 V/μm, representing a 25% improvement over filled-line patterns.