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Book Description
Carbon nanotubes are promising candidates for enhancing electronic devices in the future at the nanoscale level. Their integration into todays electronics has however been challenging due to the difficulties in controlling their orientation, location, chirality and diameter during formation. This thesis investigates and develops new techniques for the controlled growth and assembly of carbon nanotubes as a way to address some of these challenges. Colloidal lithography using nanospheres of 450 nm in diameter, acting as a shadow mask during metal evaporation, has been used to pattern thin films of single-walled carbon nanotube multilayer catalysts on Si and Si/SiO2 substrates. Large areas of periodic hexagonal catalyst islands were formed and chemical vapor deposition resulted in aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes on Si substrates within the hexagonal array of catalyst islands. On silicon dioxide, single-walled carbon nanotubes connecting the hexagonal catalyst islands were observed. To help explain these observations, a growth model based on experimental data has been used. Electrostatic interaction, van der Waals interaction and gas flow appear to be the main forces contributing to single-walled carbon nanotube alignment on Si/SiO2. Although the alignment of single-walled carbon nanotubes on Si substrates is still not fully understood, it may be due to a combination of the above factors, in addition to silicide-nanotube interaction. Atomic force microscopy and Raman spectroscopy of the post-growth samples show single-walled carbon nanotubes of 1-2 nm in diameter. Based on the atomic force microscopy data and Raman spectra, a mixture of individual and bundles of metallic and semiconducting nanotubes were inferred to be present. A novel technique based on direct nanowriting of carbon nanotube catalysts in liquid form has also been developed. The reliability of this method to produce nanoscale catalyst geometries in a highly controlled manner, as required for carbo.