Abstract
The electron field emission (EFE) and electrochemical (EC) properties of N 2 (10%)-incorporated ultra-nanocrystalline diamond (N 2 -UNCD) films were investigated. Microstructure examination using TEM indicates that incorporating the N 2 species without the substrate heating induced the presence of stacking faults, which can be effectively suppressed by growing the films at elevated temperature. While the synthesis of N 2 -UNCD without substrate heating can efficiently enhance the EC properties (large potential window with smaller background current) of the films, the EFE behavior of the films can be improved only when the films were grown at an elevated temperature. Moreover, coating the conducting N 2 -UNCD on Si-tips can further enhance the EFE and CV behaviors, viz. (E 0 ) tip = 5.0 V/μm with (J e ) tip = 0.28 mA/cm 2 at 15 V/μm applied field and ΔE p = 0.5 V with redox peak 170 μA were achieved. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.