Abstract Submitted to the NANOTUBE'02 Workshop:

Carbon nanotubes are at present the most intensively studied material in electron field emission. The ongoing studies have underlined the acute need for a better understanding of the field emission. In parallel with studies on applied aspects, we have hence performed field emission experiments on individual carbon nanotubes. Measurements carried out in a scanning electron microscope under controlled experimental configuration confirm that field emission from nanotubes follows the Fowler-Nordheim model. They also allow us to observe directly the effects of screening due to neighboring nanotubes, to compare the measured and calculated field enhancement factors, as well as to study the phenomena leading to the destruction of the emitters. We have also been able recently to follow the growth of carbon nanotubes, by measuring the field emission current directly during the chemical vapor deposition. These experiments offer a fascinating possibility to watch the nanotubes grow by following the evolution of their field emission patterns on a phosphor screen. Our work is supported by the European Community and the Federal Office for Education and Science of Switzerland in the frame of the project CANADIS (IST-1999-20590), by the Swiss National Science Foundation, by the TopNANO21 program and by Nanolight International Ltd.