Fabrication of well-aligned one-dimensional (1D) nanostrucutres is critically important and highly desired since it is the key step to realize the patterned arrays to be used as the display units. In the present work, we report the large-scale and well-aligned growth of n-type SiC nanowire arrays on the 6H-SiC wafer substrates via pyrolysis of polymeric precursors assisted by Au catalysts. The obtained n-type SiC nanowires are highly qualified with sharp tips and numerous sharp corners around the wire bodies, which bring the emitters excellent field emission (FE) performance with low turn-on fields (1.50 V/μm), low threshold fields (2.65 V/μm), and good current emission stabilities (fluctuation <3.8%). The work abilities of the n-type SiC tower-like nanowire arrays under high-temperature harsh environments have been investigated, suggesting that the resultant field emitters could be well serviced up to 500 °C. The temperature-enhanced FE behaviors could be attributed to the reduction of the work function induced by the rise of temperatures and the incorporated N dopants. It is believed that the present well-aligned n-type SiC tower-like nanowire arrays could meet nearly all stringent requirements for an ideal FE emitter with excellent FE properties, making their applications very promising in displays and other electronic nanodevices.
Keywords: SiC; doping; field emission; nanoarrays; polymeric precursors; pyrolysis.