Nano-crystalline graphite films were grown on ceramic substrates by microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition system using Fe-Ni-Cr layer as catalyst deposited by magnetron sputtering method. The microstructure and surface morphology of the nano-crystal line graphite were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectrum, Scanning electron microscope, and Transmission electron microscope. The measurement results revealed that nano-crystalline graphite film consisted of a series flower-like carbon clusters, which contains a few nano-crystal line graphitic slices. The thickness of the slice is less than 10 nm. The nano-crystalline graphitic film exhibited good field emission properties, which has the turnon field of 1.26 V/mu m and the current density of 2.1 mA/cm(2) at electric field of 2.2 V/mu m. The emission mechanism of nano-crystalline graphitic film was also studied. (c) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V.