title: High-rate low-temperature growth of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes.
abstract: We report the low-temperature growth of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs) at high growth rates by a photo-thermal chemical vapour deposition (PTCVD) technique using a Ti/Fe bilayer film as the catalyst. The bulk growth temperature of the substrate is as low as 370 °C and the growth rate is up to 1.3 µm min(-1), at least eight times faster than the values reported by traditional thermal CVD methods. Transmission electron microscopy observations reveal that as-grown CNTs are uniformly made of highly crystalline 5-6 graphene shells with an approximately 10 nm outer diameter and a 5-6 nm inner diameter. The low-temperature rapid growth of CNTs is strongly related to the unique top-down heating mode of PTCVD and the use of a Ti/Fe bimetallic solid solution catalyst. The present study will advance the development of CNTs as interconnects in nanoelectronics, through a CMOS-compatible low-temperature deposition method suitable for back-end-of-line processes.
authors.affiliation: Nano-Electronics Centre, Advanced Technology Institute, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, UK. ngshang@hotmail.com [corrected]
authors.forename: N G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Shang
authors.forename: Y Y
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Stolojan
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Papakonstantinou
authors.forename: S R P
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Silva