High field emission reproducibility and stability of carbon nanosheets and nanosheet-based backgated triode emission devices

The authors have characterized field emission properties of freestanding, $1nm$ thick graphene layers, called carbon nanosheets (CNSs), which were grown perpendicular to the growth surface using a radio-frequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition technique. The CNSs are metallic impurity-free and have uniform height distribution (standard deviation of $<10%$⁠). The authors have demonstrated reproducibility and stability of the CNSs for a period of $>200h$ at $1.3mA$ emission current level. Over this time, no degradation has been observed, the variability of the individual $I-V$ curves is small among 7216 voltage cycles, and the standard deviation at the maximum current was no more than 2.3%. A nanosheet-based backgated triode emission device has been developed to take advantage of the nanosheet field emission performance. Prototype devices have confirmed triode operation and stable electron emission.