Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 March 2011
Low field electron emission from novel room temperature grown multilayered cold cathodes were studied. The cathodes consisted of a layer of nanocrystalline diamond and a layer of nanocluster carbon films. The nanocrystalline diamond was first coated on to the substrate. The nanocluster carbon films and the tetrahedral amorphous carbon films were then deposited on the nanocrystalline diamond coated substrates using the cathodic arc process at room temperature. The heterostructured microcathodes were observed to exhibit electron emission currents of 1µA/cm2 at fields as low as 1 V/µm. The effect of the nanoseeded diamond size and concentration and the properties of different nanocluster carbon films on emission characteristics is presented.