Relationship between field emission properties and material characteristics of diamond-like carbon fabricated by focused-ion-beam chemical vapor deposition

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) deposited by focused-ion-beam chemical vapor deposition (FIB-CVD) contains gallium (Ga) when a Ga ion beam is used. Therefore, DLC deposited by FIB-CVD (FIB-DLC) has specific material characteristics that differ from those of typical DLC. In this study, FIB-DLC's annealing-temperature dependence of field emission properties, work functions, and surface conditions were measured to understand its material characteristics. The results show that Ga incorporation is required in order to obtain a sufficient electric conductivity for the field emission. Furthermore, we found that the work function is increased by the graphitization of the FIB-DLC surface caused by the annealing treatment.