Rapid synthesis of carbon nanotubes by bulk and localized inductive heating

Abstract

In this work, we report a rapid yet simple methodology for the synthesis of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in a room temperature environment using an inductive heating system with either a) bulk synthesis on silicon chips, or b) local synthesis on suspended MEMS structures. This setup enables growth and integration of CNTs with MEMS structures in a matter of 1-2 minutes. For bulk synthesis, high growth rates of up to 200 mum/min were obtained, resulting in growth of vertically aligned CNTs with an average diameter of 6.8nm. Integration from bulk- grown CNTs on MEMS structures resulted in lower resistances from larger diameter CNTs. Localized synthesis and integration was also obtained on suspended copper microstructures, illustrating an ohmic CNT response with a resistance of 110 kOmega. The breadth of synthesis and integration capabilities enabled by inductive heating illustrates a new class of rapid synthesis for vapor-liquid-solid-grown nanostructures.