Field emission properties of nano-structured phosphorus-doped diamond

Nano-structured phosphorus-doped diamonds were fabricated for field emitters and their field emission properties were characterized. Two kinds of nano-structures were prepared; tip array structures and whiskers on tip structures. The tips, which have 100 nm radius and 10 μm height, are used in tip array structures; whiskers have tip radii of 5 nm and height of 500 nm. Following nano-structure formation, a reduction of threshold fields is observed compared to non-patterned flat surfaces. This is ascribed to field concentration at the tips. However, at higher electric fields, a saturation of the emission current is observed due to non-negligible bulk resistances in tips and whiskers.