Fabrication and Design of a Thin Film Triode Type Carbon Nanotube Field Emitter as an Electron Source

Electron sources are commonly used in many technological fields for applications ranging from space propulsion, display technologies, X-ray sources and vacuum electronics. Considering the advancements in electronics in recent times, the electron source has not significantly changed. Carbon nanotubes have shown favorable properties for field emission and performance as electron sources. The objective of this work is to optimize and understand CNT electron emission in a compact and lightweight design. This work presents the fabrication of a carbon nanotube field emission device using a Spindt type cathode design, which incorporates arrays of etch pits into a thin film substrate. Several process improvements were made to maintain electrical isolation of the gate, a single point failure. These improvements resulted in a unique cathode design that incorporates substrate etching to form pits containing bundles of carbon nanotubes. In addition, the carbon nanotube synthesis methods are presented.