Study of Materials to Synthesize Vacuum Electron Nanoemitters

An analysis of the parameters and characteristics of the potential materials to be used as field electron nanoemitters is presented. The analysis is based on the existing data for the carbon nanotube (CNT) electron nanoemitters. A comparison with the estimated parameters for the most promising metal oxides semiconductors, such as PdO, CuO, and ZnO, is made. Lately cold field emitters have gained great importance because of their application in the flat panel display technology based on vacuum field emission devices. The objective of this study is the discussion of the technological potential of certain metallic oxides to be used as cold electron field emitters, and to show the related physical basis according to the Fowler-Nordheim emission theory. Taking into account the presented analysis some selection criteria to identify the device operating parameters, such as the turn-on voltage, emission current density, and device stability is presented