High performance field emission of carbon nanotube field emitters fabricated on a graphite rod after thermal annealing

We demonstrated high performance field emission of carbon nanotube (CNT) field emitters fabricated on a graphite rod. After the thermal annealing at 900 °C in vacuum ambient, the emitter showed a high emission current of 11.3 mA, corresponding to an emission current density of 5.8 A/cm 2 . The CNT emitter indicated a low turn-on field of 1.9 V/µm and stable emission stability at a current of 1 mA. In addition, it also showed a small and uniform emission pattern at the phosphor coated ITO glass. The CNT field emitter can be a good candidate for X-ray source applications