A comparative study on the cold field electron emission properties of cubic nanocrystalline lead chalcogenide thin films

Abstract

A comparative study on the field electron emission properties of the nanocrystalline lead chalcogenide thin films has been made. The structure of the films was established by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy, which revealed the formation of cubic structure with particle size in the range 5–8 nm. The threshold field was found to vary between 3.8 and 5.5 V μm⁻¹ for different systems. Due to strong quantum confinement, an enhancement in the emission properties was observed. The threshold fields and enhancement factors were calculated and we have tried to explain their emission mechanism.