Improved field emission currents of carbon nanotubes after laser irradiation

Abstract

Field emission (FE) currents were measured for silver-pasted and glass-pasted single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) after illuminating the tubes with a pulsed 532 nm laser. A very low turn-on field of approximately 0.4 V/mu m and a high current density similar to 1700 mu A/cm(2) at 3.5 V/mu m was obtained for the silver-pasted SWNTs after laser irradiation but on the whole, no improvements were found for the glass-pasted SWNTs. Two roles of laser irradiation for the silver-pasted SWNTs were proposed. First, the embedded SWNTs and SWNT bundles inside the silver paste were immerged on the outer surface due to an instantaneous melting or annealing of the silver metals by the laser resulting in an increase of the field emission sites. Second, the laser irradiation was thought to improve the electrical contact between SWNTs and the silver metal by reducing the contact resistance via laser-induced thermal annealing, which was responsible for increasing the FE currents.