A large field emission current density of 2.55 A/cm(2) at 20.9 V and a low turn-on voltage of 7.28 V is obtained from the Si-doped 50 nm-thick AlN film, synthesized by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition on the n-type SiC substrates, which is the best result reported for AlN film. Accompanying with atomic force surface micro-images, it is found that this current is achieved owing to a blunting process under a high voltage of 95 V, which can lead to a decrease of the root mean square roughness from 4.23 to 1.03 nm. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.