Vertically aligned tin-doped indium oxide nanowire arrays: Epitaxial growth and electron field emission properties

Vertically aligned tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) single-crystalline nanowire arrays are epitaxially grown on ITO/yttrium stabilized zirconia substrates by vapor transport method. Vacuum electron field emission properties of the aligned ITO nanowires are investigated. The turn-on electrical field at a current density of 1 mu A/cm(2) is about 2.0 V/mu m, and the lowest vacuum for an obvious emission is 1x10(-1) Pa. The good performance of field emission is attributed to the vertically aligned morphology, which has a stronger local electric field due to their orientation parallel to the electric-field direction. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.