Exciting properties of carbon nanotube has proven it to be a promising candidate for field emission applications, if its processing cost can be reduced effectively. In this research, a new electrochemical technique is proposed for growing carbon nanotubes in selective areas by thermal chemical vapour deposition. In this process, electrochemical processing is used to create localized pits and deposition of catalysts, which act as roots to support growth and alignment of the CNTs on copper substrate. CNTs grown thus were characterized and studied using scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope and Raman spectroscopy, elucidating presence of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT). These CNT emitters have comparatively lower turn-on field and higher field enhancement factor. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.