Electron field emission from various morphologies of fluorinated amorphous carbon nanostructures

Unlike general fluorination, amorphous fluorinated carbon ( a - C : F ) nanostructures have been synthesized directly and efficiently by an electron cyclotron resonance chemical vapor deposition (ECR-CVD) system using a mixture of C 2 H 2 , C F 4 , and Ar as precursors. The electron field-emission properties of the a - C : F nanostructures were investigated. The a - C : F nanoporous films with a low turnon field ( 1.8 V ∕ μ m ) are apparently lower than other types of a - C : F nanostructures. The a - C : F nanostructures have a greater field-enhancement factor (2500-4000) than other nonaligned multiwall nanotubes. However, the a - C : F nanostructures follow the Fowler-Nordheim characteristics only in the medium emission current region and they deviate from the characteristics in the low and high emission current regions.