GaN Nanorod Arrays As a High-Stability Field Emitter

Patterned arrays of epitaxial GaN (0001) nanorods by Si-ion bombardment of Si (111) substrates have been fabricated for the field emitters. The field emission characteristics of the GaN nanorod arrays were measured; both GaN nanorods on self-implanted and GaN matrix on unimplanted Si substrates. The current densities as high as 10 mA/cm2 have been observed for GaN nanorod arrays under applied electrical field of about 70 V/μm, while the stability of field emission at 3.93 mA/cm2 has been tested up to 7 hours with the standard deviation of 0.2%.