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SYNA: Carbon Nanotubes

SYNA IX: HV IX

SYNA IX.1: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 30, 2000, 17:30–18:00, H20

Electron field emission from carbon nanotubes — •Jean-Marc Bonard — Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland

Although most of the research conducted on multi-wall and single-wall carbon nanotubes since their discovery has been of a fundamental nature, a keen interest is shown for their potential applications. Several interesting technological applications have been proposed during the last few years, and one of them is to use nanotubes as cold field-emission electron sources.

The idea of using carbon nanotubes as electron “guns” is very promising, as they rank among the best electron field emitters that are now available. Furthermore, prototypes such as a full colour flat panel displays based on carbon nanotubes have been recently demonstrated. With the progress made in the catalytic growth of nanotubes, which permits a patterned growth on a substrate, and in spite of several major problems that have to be solved, there is little doubt that commercial devices will one day hit the market. To outline the potential of carbon nanotubes for field emission applications, I will present recent advances and results in the field, outlining remaining problems as well as future directions.