Electron field emission from nitrogenated tetrahedral amorphous carbon investigated by current imaging tunneling spectroscopy

Electron field emission from nitrogenated tetrahedral amorphous carbon ta-C:N.films with and without H ion surface post-treatment is investigated by current imaging tunneling spectroscopy CITS.. The post-treated ta-C:N film shows a lower threshold electric field, a higher emission current, and denser emission spots. The scanning tunneling microscopic STM. images show more distinctive nanoclusters for the post-treated films compared to the untreated films. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy STS.shows that a lower threshold electric field and a higher emission current density have been obtained from these clusters. Therefore, we believe that the electrons predominantly emit from the sp3 rich clusters during field emission. q1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved