Field emission of copper nanowires grown in polymer ion-track membranes

• Published in: Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section B, Beam interactions with materials and atoms Vol. 245; no. 1; pp. 337 - 341
• Main Authors: Maurer, Florian, Dangwal, Arti, Lysenkov, Dmitry, Müller, Günter, Toimil-Molares, Maria Eugenia, Trautmann, Christina, Brötz, Joachim, Fuess, Hartmut
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.04.2006
• Subjects: Copper; Field emission; Field emission scanning microscopy; Heavy-ion irradiation; Ion-track etch technique; Nanowires; Polymeric membrane; Heavy-ion irradiation; Polymeric membrane; Field emission; Nanowires; Copper; Ion-track etch technique; 79.70.+q; Field emission scanning microscopy
• ISSN: 0168-583X; 1872-9584
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nimb.2005.11.124

Field emission properties of randomly distributed copper nanowires are presented. The wires were potentiostatically deposited into the pores of polycarbonate membranes produced by the ion-track etch technique. The diameter and length of the vertically aligned wires with number densities between 106 and 108wires/cm2 were in the range of 210–330nm and 8–18μm, respectively. By means of field emission scanning microscopy, emission site densities between 0.4×105cm−2 and 1.4×105cm−2 were obtained for nA currents at 6V/μm. Two-thirds of the nanowire emitters showed Fowler–Nordheim behaviour with an average field enhancement factor of β=245, which is about three times higher than expected for a cylindrical wire geometry with a half-sphere tip.