Abstract
Nitrogen (N) ion implantation induced modification on structural and electron field emission (EFE) properties of ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) films were reported. Low dose ion implantation slightly improved the EFE properties of UNCD films mainly due to the formation of defects and annealing brought the EFE parameters back to original state by eliminating the defects. Conversely, high dose ion implantation markedly enhanced the EFE properties for UNCD films possibly due to the induction of amorphous carbons for the UNCD films. The annealing process converts the amorphous phase into a more stable graphitic one such that the EFE properties persisted even after the annealing process. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.