Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films fabricated by a pulsed laser deposition process are a very promising base material fur a field emitter. An electron field emission array (FEA) with planar structure is necessary to utilize DLC materials as electron emitters. Thus, the behavior of DLC films must be examined during the elevated temperatures of the FEA packaging process. In this work, thermal annealing up to 500 degreesC is carried out in a nitrogen ambient to investigate the thermal stability of the field emission. Experimental results indicate that the resulting emission current remains stable as compared with the emission characteristic of nonannealed DLC films.