Field emission of silicon nanowires grown on carbon cloth

A low operating electric field has been achieved on silicon nanowires grown on carbon cloth. The silicon nanowires were grown on carbon cloth via the vapor-liquid-solid reaction using silane gas as the silicon source and gold as catalyst from the decomposition of hydrogen gold tetrachloride. An emission current density of 1mA∕cm2 was obtained at an operating electric field of 0.7V∕μm. Such low field is resulted from a high field enhancement factor of 6.1×104 due to the combined effects of the high intrinsic aspect ratio of silicon nanowires and the woven geometry of carbon cloth. Such results may lead silicon nanowire field emitters to practical applications in vacuum microelectronic devices including microwave devices.