Field emission characteristics of carbon nanotube-copper composite emitters formed by composite plating

The field emission characteristics of CNT-Cu composite emitters formed by composite electroplating method were investigated. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) synthesized by chemical vapor deposition were used. The results showed that the turn-on field is about 2.34 V//spl mu/m with the current density of 0.1 /spl mu/m/cm/sup 2/. We observed that more emission sites located near edge than center and the emission current was stable. It is expected that CNT-Cu composite emitters can be applied to the FEDs and large area vacuum lighting sources.