Journal of Crystal Growth 307 (2007) 87–91 Sb-doped SnO 2 wire: Highly stable field emitter Ashok B. Bhise a , Dattatray J. Late a , Pravin S. Walke b , Mahendra A. More a , Vijayamohanan K. Pillai b , Imtiaz S. Mulla b , Dilip S. Joag a,Ã a Center for Advanced Studies in Material Science and Condensed Matter Physics, Department of Physics, University of Pune, Pune 411 007, India b Physical and Materials Chemistry Division, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune 411 008, India Received 24 April 2007; received in revised form 7 June 2007; accepted 7 June 2007 Communicated by K. Nakajima Available online 23 June 2007 Abstract Field emission investigations of a single Sb-doped SnO 2 wire synthesized by thermal evaporation have been carried out in conventional field emission geometry under ultrahigh vacuum. An onset field required to draw a current of 1 nA has been reproducibly observed to be 9.5  10 3 V/mm. A current density of 5.88  10 3 A/cm 2 has been drawn with an applied field of 2  10 4 V/mm. The Fowler–Nordheim plot, obtained from the current–voltage (I–V) measurements, shows linear nature in accordance with the quantum mechanical tunneling phenomenon. The field enhancement factor has been estimated to be 26,500 cm 1 , indicating that the emission is from the nanometric features of the Sb-doped SnO 2 wire. The current–time (I–t) measurement shows high current stability without severe deviations from the initial set value of 1 mA. r 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 85.45.Db; 81.05.Hd Keywords: A1. Antimony; A1. Field emission; A1. Field enhancement factor; A1. Wires; B1. SnO 2 1. Introduction Field emitters having capability to deliver high emission current density with good stability and low turn-on voltage are very much desirable for applications in a wide range field emission-based devices [1]. Field emission studies represent one of the most fascinating areas of research on one-dimensional (1D) nanoscale materials, and have been extensively carried out because of their importance in nanodevice applications [2]. The carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been studied by field emission because of their ideal morphology and potential of application in field emitter display devices [3]. Recently, semiconducting oxide nano- materials such as ZnO [4], In 2 O 3 [5], MoO 3 [6], and SnO 2 [7] have been explored for efficient field emission due to their inherent properties. Tin oxide (SnO 2 ), n-type wide band gap semiconductor, belongs to a class of materials that combines high electrical conductivity with optical transparency and thus constitutes an important component for optoelectronic applications [8]. Nowadays, pure 1D SnO 2 nanostructures such as nanobelts, nanowires, and nanorods could be easily synthesized by many methods and have attracted much attention because of their wide applications in nanoscale devices [9]. In most of the applications SnO 2 in pure form is rarely used but is usually modified by additives to increase the charge carrier concentration and thus the conductivity by donor atoms [10,11]. Introduction of dopants into the lattice matrix while preserving the structural integrity is still a major challenge in the synthesis of 1D metal oxide nanostructures [12]. Amongst the widely used large band gap metal oxides, Sb-doped SnO 2 (Sb:SnO 2 ) is a mechani- cally hard and electronically stable material in oxidizing environment and considered as a low-cost possible alter- native to rather expensive In-doped tin oxide (ITO) [13]. In the case of SnO 2 , antimony (Sb 5+ ) is a common n-type ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.com/locate/jcrysgro 0022-0248/$ - see front matter r 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jcrysgro.2007.06.017 Ã Corresponding author. E-mail address: dsj@physics.unipune.ernet.in (D.S. Joag).