Abstract: To eliminate the influence of the individual diversity of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and poor contact between the CNTs and the substrate on the luminescence uniformity of the CNT field emission (FE) display cathode film,a reactive current limiting layer is introduced.The zinc oxide is screen printed on the substrate as a reactive current limiting layer and subsequently covered with the CNTs using the CVD method.The FE current stability and luminescence uniformity are tested and the influence of the reactive current limiting layer on the FE curve is studied.SEM images show that the ZnO layer not only eliminates the CNT tip shielding effect but also improves the contact between the CNTs and the substrate.FE curves and luminescence photos show that the threshold voltage increases as the thickness of the ZnO layer increases and as the FE current decreases.The current stability and luminescence uniformity are improved remarkably due to the ZnO layer.

Key words: carbon nanotube, field emission display, ZnO, uniformity