Patterned zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods were fabricated on the different patterned silicon nanocrystallite (SiNC) substrates via a simple thermal evaporation method without any catalyst. The as-synthesized products were examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. The efficient field emission with low turn-on and threshold field, 3.5 V/mu m and 8.1 V/mu m, was obtained. The experimental results demonstrate that these products Could be one of the promising candidates for field emission displays. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.