E.P. Sheshin - Dr.Sc. (Phys.-Math.), Professor, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. E-mail: sheshin@mail.mipt.ru
A.J. Kolodjazhnyj - Student, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. E-mail: kolodyazhnyj@gmail.com
A.L. Shornikova - Post-graduate Student, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. E-mail: kolodyazhnyj@gmail.com

Creating stable field emission cathodes is one of the most urgent problems of modern electronics. Such cathodes have many advantages in comparison with the other types of free electron sources as follows: resistance to temperature variations, exponentially high steepness of the current-voltage characteristics, the low sensitivity of external radiation and many others. As the field emission cathode materials were used different materials such as refractory metals (such as tungsten, molybdenum, rhenium, platinum) and semiconducting materials (chromium, niobidy hafnium). But materials for cathodes must have a number of specific properties, such as low and stable value of the work function, high values of mechanical strength and electric conductivity. Therefore, in the early 70s after the first reports on the field emission of carbon materials, the advantages of such materials became obvious. At the present time researches of field emission properties of new cathodes based on carbon materials are actively being conducted. The purpose of this work is studying the properties of field emission cathodes based on arrays of radially oriented carbon nanotubes with different parameters of production, as well as consideration of the material as a cathode for field emission devices of various applications.