Enhancement of electron field emission property with silver incorporation into diamondlike carbon matrix

Effects of silver doping on the electron field emission properties of diamondlike carbon films deposited on silicon substrates by the rf reactive sputtering technique were studied in detail. It was found that the threshold field and effective emission barrier were reduced by Ag doping and the emission current strongly depends on the Ag doping percentage. The threshold field was found to decrease from 6.8 to 2.6 V/mu m with a variation of Ag at. % from 0 to 12.5. The field enhancement factor was calculated and we have explained the emission mechanism. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.