Enhancement of electric field by silicon pillars in low voltage carbon nanotube cold cathodes

New approach of combining carbon nanotubes (CNT) and Si pillars in field emission cathodes is shown. Horizontally aligned CNTs emit with low threshold voltage, while main field enhancement is produced by using sharp edges in Si pillars made by Bosch process. The electric field enhancement was simulated and current-voltage curves were obtained for CNT-Si pillars samples.