%0 Journal Article %J ACS Nano %D 2010 %T Fowler-nordheim plot behavior and mechanism of field electron emission from ZnO tetrapod structures %A Al-Tabbakh, Ahmed A. %A More, Mahendra A. %A Joag, Dilip S. %A Mulla, Imtiaz S. %A Pillai, Vijayamohanan K. %K field emission %K Fowler-Nordheim plot %K Nanostructures %K nonlinearity %K ZnO %X

Field emission measurements of current-voltage characteristics are reported for tetrapod structures of ZnO. The nonlinear Fowler-Nordheim (FN) plot is analyzed according to a model of calculation based on saturation of conduction band current and predominance of valence band current at high-field values. The simulated FN plot exhibits similar features to those observed experimentally. The model of calculation suggests that the slope variation of the FN plot, in the high-field and low-field regions, does not depend on the magnitude of saturation. Instead, it is a characteristic of the energy band structure and voltage-to-barrier-field conversion factor of the emitting material.

%B ACS Nano %I AMER CHEMICAL SOC %C 1155 16TH ST, NW, WASHINGTON, DC 20036 USA %V 4 %P 5585-5590 %8 OCT %G eng %N 10 %3 Foreign %4 9.855 %R 10.1021/nn1008403