Electron emission performance analysis and application of carbon nanotube cold cathode prepared by cold pressing process

In this work, a carbon nanotube (CNT) cold cathode electron emitter fabricated by the cold pressing process was developed and studied. The electron emission performance was investigated and the application of pulse x-ray emission and imaging was explored by this cold cathode. The results indicated that the electron emission performance was excellent with electric intensities of turn-on and threshold of 0.47 and 1.17 V/μm@1 mA/cm2, respectively, and the field enhancement factor reached 17 514. The application research results showed that the pulse x-ray waveform has a great corresponding well with the grid voltage, and the imaging of a screw was clear, whose thread and pitch could be seen clearly. This article proposed a cold pressing process prepared for the CNT cold cathode, providing a new technical approach for the development of field emission cold cathode preparation processes.