A property of certain samples of carbon nanotubes not to sink in the water was employed to develop an original technique of nanotubes array deposition. The arrays were characterized both by optical microscopy and by scanning electron microscopy. Field-emitting devices were produced from those arrays. They were shown to exhibit stable electron emission and high current densities. Patterned arrays were also developed and tested for applications in flat panel displays. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.