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Ultra-low-threshold field emission from conjugated polymers

Nature volume 395, pages 362–365 (1998)Cite this article

Abstract

Field-emission displays contain materials that emit electrons when charged to a low (negative) potential; the electrons excite light emission from phosphor screens. These devices have the potential to provide flat-panel visual displays with good picture quality at low power consumption and low cost1. Field-emission devices at present use arrays of microfabricated tips as the emitting cathodes, but a potentially cheaper and simpler alternative is to use a thin-film cathode. This requires the identification of materials that will emit an appreciable electron current at low applied fields. Nitrogen-doped, chemical-vapour-deposited diamond films2 and amorphous carbon films3 have been explored for this purpose. The low electron affinity4, wide bandgap and excellent transport properties5 of some conducting organic polymers suggest that they might also provide good cathode materials. Here we demonstrate that this is so, reporting field emission from thin films of regioregular poly(3-octylthiophene) deposited on n-doped silicon, with indium tin oxide as the anode. The threshold fields that we measure for electron emission from these films are the lowest yet reported for any carbon-based material.

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Figure 1: Field emission current density versus voltage.
Figure 2: The effect of varying the anode–cathode distance.
Figure 3
Figure 4: Life-time study of continuous field emission over a period of 16 hours.

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Acknowledgements

We thank N. Rupasinghe for assistance during the measurements, M. Chhowalla for discussions, and K. Molloy for technical assistance. We also thank the UK Engineering and Physical Research Council for financial support through studentships.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L693BX, UK

    I. Musa, D. A. I. Munindrasdasa, G. A. J. Amaratunga & W. Eccleston

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  1. I. Musa
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  2. D. A. I. Munindrasdasa
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  3. G. A. J. Amaratunga
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  4. W. Eccleston
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Correspondence to G. A. J. Amaratunga.

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Musa, I., Munindrasdasa, D., Amaratunga, G. et al. Ultra-low-threshold field emission from conjugated polymers. Nature 395, 362–365 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/26444

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