The properties of the surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED) are mainly decided by the surface-conduction electron emitters (SCEs). Pd is mostly used to fabricate the surface-conduction electron emitters, which are normally obtained by generating a nano-scale gap from PdO conductive film. ZnO is a potential material for electron emission and the research work has proved that ZnO film can act as the electron-emitter material. In this study, we propose to use the ZnO-Pd two-layer film as the conductive film. Both the multi-layer device electrode film and conductive film were deposited by a magnetron sputter, and SCEs are formed by the electro-forming process as used in SED. The results revealed that the Pd film on ZnO film surface increases the electron emission efficiency from 0.36% to 3.85%. (C) 2010 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.