Field emission characteristics of screen-printed carbon nano tube after laser irradiation

CNTs (carbon nano tubes) have drawn much attention as a field emitter material because of the high chemical stability, superior mechanical strength, and very high aspect ratio. One can use the well-aligned CNTs produced by CVD method to fabricate the electron emitters, or can also fabricate the electron emitters by a screen-printing method, which is very easy for mass production. In this study, CNTs were screen-printed on the ITO/glass substrate, and were irradiated by an UV (ultra-violet) laser in order to improve the emission behavior of the emitter by cleaning the top surface of screen-printed CNTs or by inducing defect sites, i.e., electron emission sites.