Synthesis and field emission testing of carbon nanoflake edge emitters

Nanometer edged carbon structures, carbon nanoflakes (CNF), have been synthesized on 50-150 nm diameter nickel arrays. Scanning electron microscopy shows CNF preferentially growing on the Ni dots with the irregular carbon flakes standing perpendicular to the substrate. Raman spectra of this structure show a typical carbon feature with D and G peaks at 1350 and 1580 cm/sup -1/, respectively. Preliminary results of field emission testing, including field emission spectroscopy, I-E curves, Fowler-Nordheim plots and stability curves, indicate that this structure could act as a conductive, robust, edge emitter.