Fabrication of carbon nanotube emitters in an anodic aluminium oxide nanotemplate on a Si wafer by multi-step anodization

Abstract

AAO template technology was combined with silicon technology to be directly applied to electronic device fabrication. Thin film anodic aluminium oxide (AAO) templates were fabricated on a silicon wafer by multiple anodizations. No electropolishing was used after the deposition of the aluminium layer on Si wafers. The ordering of the pore arrangement was improved by repeated anodizations, and highly ordered AAO templates could be obtained on Si wafers. CNT field emitter arrays were made with the AAO templates on Si wafers. Field emission measurement revealed that the emission current density increased with the synthesis temperature of CNTs. The large field enhancement factor in the range of 2440-4000 indicates the potential of the CNT field emitter array based on the AAO template on a Si wafer.