Display technology

as a multi-disciplinary compositive technology

has penetrated into various domains and played more and more important role.Especially

in the information times depicted by Internet and wireless communication

both the entrance and exit of "information high-way" require display devices as a platform

this requirement endow with the display technology a more and more arduous mission.Field emission display(FED) is regarded as a flat cathode ray tube (CRT)

it is expected to have two-fold technology advantages

its image quality can be comparable to CRTand low power consumption can be comparable to liquid crystal display.The FEDis a vacuum electron device

sharing many common features with the vacuum fluorescent display(VFD) and the CRT.Just like in a VFDor a CRT

the image in a FEDdevice can be created by dragging electrons from a cathode emitters and bombard anode fluorescent screen.In a FEDdevice

the electron source consists of a matrix-addressed array of millions of cold cathode emitters.This field emission array is placed in close proximity to a phosphor faceplate such that each phosphor pixel faces on a dedicated set of field emitters.In addition to the anode and cathode(and gate electrode)

a FEDcontains ceramic spacers to prevent the structure from collapsing under atmospheric pressure.Carbon nanotubes(CNTs) resulted from the folding of graphite layers into long carbon cylinders.As a novel form of carbon discovered in 1991

they have attracted much attention because of their unique electrical properties and potential applications.The large aspect ratio together with their high chemical stability

thermal conductivity and high mechanical strength are the advantageous for applications to the field emission display

they have been rapidly recognized as one of the most promising electron field emitters ever sine the first field emission experiments reported in 1995.CNTs as emitters in FEDdevices have been amply demonstrated during the last decade years

and recent developments of production techniques are likely to open future more applications.The research in CNT-FEDtechnologies will give our country an opportunity to participate in international competition in the domain of information display technology.The structure and operating principle of FED

the features that cathode emitters should satisfy

and practical applications of CNTs in FEDdomain are introduced

respectively.The field emission characteristics of CNTs film including turnon field

density of emission current

emission stability and emission site density are discussed in detail.The development history and actuality of CNT-FEDand technical trends are reviewed and prospected

respectively.And the questions with which CNT-FEDfaced are also analyzed.