Enhancing field emission performance of aligned Si nanowires via in situ partial oxidization.
Partially oxidized Si nanowire (NW) arrays have been achieved via a combinatorial process of selectively etching Si wafer to obtain vertically aligned single crystalline Si NW arrays and subsequent in situ partially oxidizing the as-etched bare Si NWs. The resultant Si products are Si-SiOx nanocable-like structures consisting of single-crystalline Si NW inner cores and outer shells of insulating SiOx. Field emission measurements demonstrate that surface partial oxidization enhances the field emission current of the as-etched bare Si NWs effectively, which can be ascribed to the outer shell of insulating SiOx that has small electron affinity (0.6-0.8 eV) and can protect Si NW inner cores. The results indicate that the partially oxidized Si NW arrays would act as the excellent field emitters in the future vacuum micro- and nano-electronic devices.
Zhongjian
Z
Qian
Xianyun
X
Liu
Ye
Y
Yang
Qiaoxia
Q
Yin
D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D053770:Nanowires; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry*
D012825:Silicon