Effects of the surface treatment of silicon substrate on the field emission characteristic of a silicon and amorphous diamond cold cathode emitter

Details are given of an experimental study of the effects of surface treatment of silicon substrate on the field emission process of flat amorphous diamond (a-D) film field emitters. Using a filtered cathodic vacuum arc plasma deposition system (FCVAPD), the amorphous diamond (a-D) film was deposited on both non-treated and etched silicon wafers (n-type and p-type). The field electron emission characteristic was measured before and after depositing a-D film. The a-D film on etched silicon wafer shows distinct increase in emission current compared with that on non-treated silicon wafer. The phenomenon is attributed to two important reasons: the low or even negative surface electron affinity of a-D film and the local field enhancement at the Si-diamond interface.