The influence of total reactor pressure on PECVD growth of carbon nanotubes

Abstract

The paper presents an experimental and theoretical study of PECVD growth of carbon nanotube arrays on silicon planar substrates with iron as a catalyst. It is shown that an increase in the total gas pressure in the reactor causes the plasma temperature to drop, which leads to a decrease in the pyrolysis rate. At low pressures and high pyrolysis rates, a layer of amorphous carbon forms on the surface of the catalyst and carbon nanotubes, which creates a barrier to carbon penetration into the catalyst, slowing down the growth of nanotubes. At high gas pressures, the growth rate of nanotubes is higher, which leads to an increase in the content of defects in them.