Low Temperature Synthesis of Lithium-Doped Nanocrystalline Diamond Films with Enhanced Field Electron Emission Properties

Low temperature (350 °C) grown conductive nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) films were realized by lithium diffusion from Cr-coated lithium niobate substrates (Cr/LNO). The NCD/Cr/LNO films showed a low resistivity of 0.01 Ω·cm and excellent field electron emission characteristics, viz. a low turn-on field of 2.3 V/µm, a high-current density of 11.0 mA/cm2 (at 4.9 V/m), a large field enhancement factor of 1670, and a life-time stability of 445 min (at 3.0 mA/cm2). The low temperature deposition process combined with the excellent electrical characteristics offers a new prospective for applications based on temperature sensitive materials.