The field emission properties of silicon carbide whiskers grown by CVD

Silicon carbide whiskers and films were grown by chemical vapor deposition without a metallic catalyst in the temperature range between 1000 °C and 1150 °C, and at a constant pressure and input gas ratio[H2/MTS(Methyltrichlorosilane)] of 5 Torr and 30, respectively. The mean diameter of whiskers increased from 96 nm to 1.24 μm as the deposition temperature increased up to 1100 °C. Further increasing of the growth temperature made the growth mechanism transfer from whisker growth to film growth and the surface morphology adopted a pebble-like structure. Silicon carbide whiskers and films showed cold field emission properties and the whiskers, which were obtained, at a temperature of 1050 °C showed relatively good field emission properties.