Caterpillar-like structural carbon film was directly fabricated by the method of magnetic and electric fields coupling hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD). The caterpillar-like structural carbon film showed a graphitic feature with numerous carbon nanosheets (CNSs). We supposed that the appearance of CNSs should be ascribed to the role of electric field. Raman and field emission transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results demonstrated that CNSs were composed of multiple graphene layers. Field emission results indicated that the micro caterpillar-like structural carbon film exhibited a low turn-on field of 3.66 V/mu m and good performance in emission stability with less than 8% of fluctuation in current density. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.