The other original device type was the "Latham emitter". These were MIMIV (metal-insulator-metal-insulator-vacuum) – or, more generally, CDCDV (conductor-dielectric-conductor-dielectric-vacuum) – devices that contained conducting particulates in a dielectric film. The device field-emits because its microstructure/nanostructure has field-enhancing properties. This material had a potential production advantage, in that it could be deposited as an "ink", so IC fabrication techniques were not needed. However, in practice, uniformly reliable devices proved difficult to fabricate.