| Metallic-dielectric nanocomposites, including Ag-SiO2, Co-SiO2, and WC-SiC, were synthesised on silicon substrates using ion implantation. The electron field emission (FE) properties of these nanocomposites were studied and correlated to their microstructure using atomic force microscopy, Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. These nanocomposite layers exhibit excellent FE properties and give an emission current of 1 nA at the applied electric fields of as low as 5 V/μ for Co-SiO2 nanocomposites. Moreover, the results clearly show that isolated metallic nanoclusters embedded in a relatively electrically insulating matrix, can create local field enhancement for the samples, which we attribute to the enhancement factor associated with electrical inhomogeneity effects. |
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