Field emission from single and few-layer graphene flakes

We report the observation and characterization of field emission current from individual single- and few-layer graphene flakes laid on a flat SiO2/Si substrate. Measurements were performed in a scanning electron microscope chamber equipped with nanoprobes, used as electrodes to realize local measurements of the field emission current. We achieved field emission currents up to 1 μA from the flat part of graphene flakes at applied fields of few hundred V/μm. We found that emission process is stable over a period of several hours and that it is well described by a Fowler-Nordheim model for currents over 5 orders of magnitude.