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Coulomb blockade in field electron emission from carbon nanotubes

We report the observation of Coulomb blockade in field electron emission (FE) from single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), which is manifested as pronounced steps in the FE current-voltage curves and oscillatory variations in the energy distribution of emitted electrons. The appearance of the Coulomb blockade is explained by the formation of nanoscale protrusions at the apexes of SWCNTs due to the electric field-assisted surface diffusion of adsorbates and carbon adatoms. The proposed adsorbate-assisted FE mechanism is substantially different from the well-known resonant tunneling associated with discrete electronic states of adsorbed atoms. The simulations based on the Coulomb blockade theory are in excellent agreement with the experimental results. The SWCNT field emitters controlled by the Coulomb blockade effect are expected to be used to develop on-demand coherent single-electron sources for advanced vacuum nanoelectronic devices.