Enhancement of electron emission efficiency and stability of molybdenum field emitter array by diamond-like carbon coating

We have studied the enhancement of electron emission by diamond-like carbon (DLC) coating on Mo field emitter arrays by a layer-by-layer technique using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The turn-on voltage was lowered from 55 V to 30 V by 20 nm DLC coating and maximum emission current was increased from 166 /spl mu/A to 831 /spl mu/A. Also the gate voltage required to get the anode current of 0.1 (/spl mu/A/emitter) decreases from 77 V to 48 V. Furthermore, the emission current from DLC coated Mo FEAs is more stable than that of non-coated Mo FEAs.