Improved field emission characteristics of GaN by BN coating

Summary form only given. Development of cold cathodes with high performance such as a high emission current operation at a low voltage is strongly desired for application to vacuum microelectronics and field emission displays. Boron nitride (BN) is one of the most promising materials for cold cathodes because negative electron affinity (NEA) appears on the surface. Moreover, BN films can be deposited at a low temperature by plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition. In this paper, the effect of BN coating on an improvement of field emission characteristics of the cold cathode is investigated. The electron emission mechanism of BN film is mentioned. Furthermore, it is demonstrated using gallium nitride (GaN) cold cathodes that BN coating is effective in improving field emission characteristics. GaN layers grown on sapphire substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) were used in the present experiment.