Simple approach to fabricate microgated nanotubes emitter with a sidewall protector

We successfully fabricated microgated nanotubes emitter using nanotubes directly grown on the substrate by the thermal CVD method. In order to reduce the leakage current due to flowing current along nanotubes grown on the sidewalls of the gate hole, we suggested the very simple processing step for fabricating sidewall protector using a parting layer that is generally used in metal tip process. The field emission properties imply a turn-on gate voltage of 52 V and an emission current of 1.7 μA at 100 V. The sidewall protector has an effect on reducing gate current by suppressing the growth of nanotubes on sidewall. The emission current fluctuation was ± 10% over 2600 s.