Radiation modification of carbon surface as a means of multi-tips field emission cathode production for different purposes

The report contains the results of research of carbon materials surface microrelief (piro-graphite PG-1 and highly strong reactor graphite MGP-6) with the help of air scanning tunneling microscope. The experimental carbon materials were irradiated by heavy ions of middle and high energies. The purpose of the experiments was to find out possibilities of utilization of radiation technologies for production effective multi-tips flat cathodes on the basis of field electron emission. It is known the need in such cathodes is quite big in vacuum microelectronics, for example. In flat matrix display screens production, highly efficient light sources production, etc. In the process of experiments different radiation parameters were used: the type of bombarding ions, flow density and radiation fluence, irradiated carbon temperature and angle of arrival of the ion beam on its surface. The results analysis showed that the final geometry of the surface of irradiated carbon materials is determined by reciprocal intensity of three processes: crystal structure defects formation, surface atoms spraying and growth of new surface formations. The latter can be result both of radiation stimulated surface diffusion and deposit or material from radiation created plasma component near the carbon surface. The results of this research work prove to a big extent the effectiveness of the use of radiation modifications of carbon materials and production of developed multi-tips cathodes on the basis of field electron emission. The report presents the measured emission properties of the field emission cathode, their utilization parameters stability and life-time at different current levels.