Carbon Nanotube Based Vacuum Diode Characteristics at Elevated Temperatures

Abstract

Since the discovery of carbon nanotubes twenty years ago, they have been studied heavily. Carbon nanotubes are known to have excellent mechanical, electrical, and thermal conductivity properties as well as for having a very large aspect ratio. Researchers are finding new ways to use carbon nanotubes in our everyday world. In this thesis, carbon nanotubes are put into a vacuum diode configuration and tested at different temperatures to see how the field emissions would change with temperature. The carbon nanotubes that were used in these experiments were randomly aligned Multi Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs). These carbon nanotubes were grown in house using a chemical vapor deposition process on a silicon wafer.