Study On The Preparation And Field Emission Behavior Of Diamond And DLC Nano-wires By ICP Dry Etching Technology

The promising applications of diamond and DLC nano-wires are for electronfield emission devices due to their many unique properties and large aspect ratio. Inthis study, we introduce the realization of wires from diamond and DLC usingself-aligned nickel nano-particles as etching mask in an oxygen ICP dry etching step.It was also confirmed that these DLC nano-wires showed excellent field-emissionbehavior.Polycrystalline diamond films and DLC films were grown in electronic auxiliarychemical vapor deposition (EACVD) systems and magnetic filtration MEVVA iondeposition and implantation systems, respectively.A good morphological nickel particle array was prepared by controlling thethickness of nickel membrane, annealing temperature and annealing time in chemicalvapor deposition systems and high temperature treatment furnace. To prepare aself-organized nickel particle the optimal synthesized conditions were Ni layer of1nm thickness, annealing temperature at700°C and annealing time for5min. Nickelparticles of typically15nm to55nm in diameter were generated and distributed in ahomogeneous pattern.Diamond and DLC nano-wires were produced via a top–down procedure usingnickel particles as hard mask in an oxygen inductive coupled plasma (ICP) to etchdiamond and DLC. The morphology and structure of nano-wires can be controlled bythe etching power and etching time. Diamond nano-wire mean diameter of188.231nm and average lengths of4.226μm can be realized in the synthesizedconditions of800W for60min.DLC nano-wire diameters of28nm to30nm andaverage lengths of368.584nm can be realized in the synthesized conditions of500Wfor150s.It was also confirmed that DLC nano-wires showed excellent field-emissionbehavior. Emission started at the anode voltage of about1.990V/μm and reached10.017mA/cm2at4.312V/μm.