Property damage from crashes

In 1995, FE from a multiwalled CNT (MWCNT) film was reported by De Heer et al. [14], and the FE property of an isolated MWCNT was reported by Rinzler et al. [15]. FE of electrons from individually mounted CNTs was found to be dramatically increased when the nanotube tips were opened by laser evaporation or oxidative etching. Emission currents of 0.1-1 (xA were readily obtained at room temperature with bias voltages of less than 80 V. Dai et al. [16] attached individual nanotubes with a length of several micrometers to the silicon cantilever of a conventional atomic force microscope (AFM) using a soft acrylic adhesive. Because of their flexibility, the tips are resistant to damage from tip crashes, whereas their slenderness permits the imaging of sharp recesses in surface topography. 

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