Growth of carbon nanotubes on silicon nano-protrusions

Abstract

This paper reports a newly-developed growth control technique of carbon nanotubes by forming nano-sized protrusions on surface of a substrate. This technique consists of formation of nano-protrusions on a silicon substrate by reactive ion etching in chlorine plasma and growth of carbon nanotubes by chemical vapor deposition. Results show that the existence of the nano-protrusions gives lower growth density and the smaller diameter of CNTs.