Electron field emission from various morphologies of fluorinated amorphous carbon nanostructures

Unlike general fluorination, amorphous fluorinated carbon (a-C:F) nanostructures have been synthesized directly and efficiently by an electron cyclotron resonance chemical vapor deposition (ECR-CVD) system using a mixture of C2H2, CF4, and Ar as precursors. The electron field-emission properties of the a-C:F nanostructures were investigated. The a-C:F nanoporous films with a low turnon field (1.8 V/mum) are apparently lower than other types of a-C:F nanostructures. The a-C:F nanostructures have a greater field-enhancement factor (2500-4000) than other nonaligned multiwall nanotubes. However, the a-C:F nanostructures follow the Fowler-Nordheim characteristics only in the medium emission current region and they deviate from the characteristics in the low and high emission current regions. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.