High-Performance Field Emitters Based on SiC Nanowires with Designed Electron Emission Sites
Xiaoxiao Li, Chenxuan Lou, Weijun Li, Lin Wang, Fengmei Gao, Gang Shao, Shanliang Chen, Weiyou Yang
Abstract
Making field emitters with both low turn-on field (Eto) and high current emission stability is one of the keys to push forward their practical applications. In the present work, we report the exploration of high-performance field emitters with designed sharp corners around SiC nanowires for fundamentally enhanced electron emission sites. The sharp corners with tailored densities are rationally created based on a facile etching technique. Accordingly, the emission sites and nanowires are integrated into a single-crystalline configuration without interfaces, which could offer the emitters with a robust structure to avoid the structural damage induced by the generated Joule heat and electrostatic forces over long-term field emission (FE) operation. Consequently, the Eto of the as-fabricated SiC field emitter is low down to 0.52 V/μm, which is comparable to the state-of-the-art one ever reported. Moreover, they have high electron emission stability with a current fluctuation of just 2% over 10 h, representing their promising applications in FE-based electronic units.