Micro Chemical Vapor Deposition System: Design and Verification

The conventional chemical vapor deposition system has been miniaturized to the micro scale, leading to several potential advantages for the synthesis of nanostructures. First, minute heat capacity leads to fast temperature stabilization. Second, tiny chamber volume helps for rapid gas species exchanges. Third, small Reynolds number ensures laminar flow for better control of deposition sources. Forth, small diffusion length near the chemical reaction surface enhances efficient gas mass transfer. As a demonstration of principle, high-quality single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are synthesized while similar experimental parameters in a large scale system fail to construct good quality SWNTs.