Field-emission characteristics of carbon nanotube paste layers

A three-dimensional simulator was used to analyze the field-emission mechanism of a carbon nanotube (CNT) emitter layer as a surface electron emitter in a triode structure for field-emission display. An electrostatic image potential was added to the Fowler-Nordheim equation to improve the accuracy of the calculation, and then several important parameters affecting the field-emission characteristics were studied. We calculated the field enhancement factor (β) and emission factor (κ) of the CNT emitter layer using the experimentally obtained current-voltage (I-V) values and the extended Fowler-Nordheim equation by the least-squares-fitting method. By simulating 211 structures, we confirmed the existence of a shielding effect between the emitters and a penetration phenomenon of the anode voltage.