Stable, high current density carbon nanotube field emission devices

Carbon nanotube (CNT) field emission (FE) has numerous potential applications including field emission displays, field electron microscopes, x-ray sources, and multiple electron beam lithography. We have developed fabrication and CNT growth processes to produce FE devices that yield stable performance at high current density. We have demonstrated stable performance for average current densities up to 0.8 A cm^-2 during total charge extraction of 100 C, equivalent to 2.5 × 10⁶ mAs cm^-2.