Field Emission Behaviour Of Hexagonal Sb2te3 Micron Sized Platelets Of Nanometric Thickness

Hexagonal shaped, micron sized platelets of Sb2Te3 having nanometric thickness were synthesized by hydrothermal route. The as-synthesized Sb2Te3 was characterized employing X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) to reveal its phase and morphology. The XRD analysis has confirmed the formation of crystalline phase of Sb2Te3, along with presence of crystalline Te phase in the synthesized product. FESEM images reveal the formation of hexagonal shaped (size ranging from 1 to 5 mu m, and sub-micron thick) Sb2Te3 platelets. Field emission behaviour of the hexagonal shaped, micron sized platelets of Sb2Te3 was studied at base pressure of similar to 1X10(-8) mbar. The values of the tum-on and threshold fields were found to be similar to 5.0 and 6.0 V/mu m, corresponding to emission current density of 1 and 10 mu A/cm(2), respectively. Furthermore, maximum current density of similar to 460 mu A/cm(2) was extracted from the emitter at an applied field 8.8 V/mu m. The Sb2Te3 emitter exhibited fairly good emission current stability at pre-set value of 1 mu A over duration of 240 minutes.