Field emission microscopy of ultra-nano-crystalline diamond films

Nitrogen-incorporated ultrananocrystalline diamond, (N)UNCD, is an unconventional field emitter that performs in planar thin film configuration and has turn-on fields on the order of 10 V/ m. To shed more light on fundamental field emission properties of (N)UNCD, we have designed and commissioned a field emission microscope (FEM). The microscope can directly image the field emission site distribution on a cathode surface by making use of anode screens in the standard parallel plate configuration with the lateral spatial resolution 1–10 m.