Improvement of the Field Emission Stability of Carbon Nanotube Paste Emitter by Post-treatments

The field emitters were fabricated by screen-printing of carbon nanotube paste, and their emission stabilities were evaluated. It was found that the emission stability measured in a sealed device is much higher than that measured in a vacuum chamber in spite of similar pressure. This was because oxygen gas was scarcely remained in the sealed device, while the gas is continuously supplied into the vacuum chamber during the stability measurement. It was found that the plasma treatment etched the protruded CNTs, resulting in the uniform height of CNT tips. As a result, the stability was increased remarkably. It was also found that the stability of CNT paste emitter was improved by electrical aging and that the optimum condition for the aging was varied with the size of emitter.