摘要
A detailed conductive atomic force microscopic investigation is carried out to directly image the electron emission behavior for nitrogen-doped diamond nanorods (N-DNRs). Localized emission measurements illustrate uniform distribution of high-density electron emission sites from N-DNRs. Emission sites coupled to nanographitic phases at the grain boundaries facilitate electron transport and thereby enhance field electron emission from N-DNRs, resulting in a device operation at low turn-on fields of 6.23 V/μm, a high current density of 1.94 mA/cm 2 (at an applied field of 11.8 V/μm) and a large field enhancement factor of 3320 with a long life-time stability of 980 min. Moreover, using N-DNRs as cathodes, a microplasma device that can ignite a plasma at a low threshold field of 390 V/mm achieving a high plasma illumination current density of 3.95 mA/cm 2 at an applied voltage of 550 V and a plasma life-time stability for a duration of 433 min was demonstrated.