Field emission from carbon nanotube fibers in varying anode-cathode ...

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Dec 4, 2017 - This paper studies field emission (FE) from a single carbon nanotube (CNT) fiber with different ..... 38 J. G. Simmons, J. Appl. Phys. 34, 1793 ...
AIP ADVANCES 7, 125203 (2017)

Field emission from carbon nanotube fibers in varying anode-cathode gap with the consideration of contact resistance Peng Zhang,1,a S. B. Fairchild,2 T. C. Back,2 and Yi Luo1

1 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing,

Michigan 48824-1226, USA 2 Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, WPAFB, Ohio 45433, USA (Received 11 October 2017; accepted 20 November 2017; published online 4 December 2017; corrected 16 March 2018; 26 March 2018)

This paper studies field emission (FE) from a single carbon nanotube (CNT) fiber with different anode-cathode (AK) gap distances. It is found that the field enhancement factor depends strongly on the finite AK gap distance, due to the combination of geometrical effects and possible fiber morphology change. The geometrical effects of AK gap distance on the field enhancement factor are confirmed using COMSOL simulations. The slope drop in the Fowler-Northeim (FN) plot of the FE data in the high voltage is related to the electrical contact resistance between the CNT fiber and the substrate. It is found that even a small series resistance to the field emitter (