Field emission of carbon nanotube array with normal-gate cold cathode

A hexagon pitch carbon nanotube (CNT) array vertical to the normal gate of cold cathode field emission displayer (FED) is simulated by solving the Laplace equation. The calculated results show that the normal gate causes the electric field around the CNT tops to be concentrated and emission electron beam become a column. The field enhancement factor and the emission current intensity step up greatly compared with those of diode structure. Emission current density increases rapidly with the decrease of normal-gate aperture. The gate voltage exerts a critical influence on the emission current.