Tip cooling effect and failure mechanism of field-emitting carbon nanotubes.
The cooling effect accompanying field electron emission has been considered for a single carbon nanotube (CNT) used as a field emission (FE) electron source. An improved model for the failure mechanism of field emitting CNTs has been proposed and validated. Our model predicts a maximum temperature (T-max) located at an interior point rather than the tip of the CNTs, and the failure of the CNT emitters tends to take place at the T-max point, inducing a segment by segment breakdown process. A combination of Joule heating and electrostatic force effect is proposed responsible for initiating the failure of the field emitting CNT and validated by in situ FE observation.
Wei
Wei
W
Department of Physics and Tsinghua-Foxconn Nanotechnology Research Center, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Liu
Yang
Y
Wei
Yang
Y
Jiang
Kaili
K
Peng
Lian-Mao
LM
Fan
Shoushan
S
D004868:Equipment Failure; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*
D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon