Abstract: Copper nanocrystallites were deposited on mechanically polished single crystal silicon (sc-Si)wafers by electroless deposition method. The average size of the copper nanocrystallites was evaluated to be about 40nm based on X-ray diffraction data. Field emission measurements show that for the sample prepared by 120s deposition, a current density of 62.5 μA/cm2 was obtained at an electric field of 9.26 V/μm, with a turn-on field of 5.5V/μm. The corresponding deposition process and the field emission mechanism were analyzed. Our results indicate that electroless deposition might be a candidate method for fabricating metal/silicon cold cathodes with excellent field emission properties.

Key words: Copper nanocrystallites were deposited on mechanically polished single crystal silicon (sc-Si)wafers by electroless deposition method. The average size of the copper nanocrystallites was evaluated to be about 40nm based on X-ray diffraction data. Field emission measurements show that for the sample prepared by 120s deposition, a current density of 62.5 μA/cm2 was obtained at an electric field of 9.26 V/μm, with a turn-on field of 5.5V/μm. The corresponding deposition process and the field emission mechanism were analyzed. Our results indicate that electroless deposition might be a candidate method for fabricating metal/silicon cold cathodes with excellent field emission properties.