Effects of amorphous carbon (a-C) thin film coating over carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on the field emission characteristics have been studied. Large-area surface-wave plasma (SWP) device was used both for growth of multi-wall CNTs on Ni-evaporated Si substrate and for deposition of a-C thin layer over CNTs. Field emission characteristics of the a-C film-coated CNTs prepared with different CVD durations were investigated. Experimental results show that the emission performance was significantly improved by coating a-C film typically with a thickness of 0.6-1 mu m, that is, the ignition voltage for electron emission was reduced from 240 V for the sample of CNTs only to 110 V for that of CNTs deposited with a-C film during 60 min. The surface morphology has been also studied using the field emission type scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). It was deduced that the reduction of ignition voltage was due to the field enhancement originated from grain shape structures of the surface after a-C film deposition. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.