Patterned Growth of Well-Aligned Carbon Nanotubes: A Photolithographic Approach

by Yongyuan Yang, Shaoming Huang, Huizhu He, Albert W. H. Mau, and Liming Dai
                                          CSIRO Molecular Science, Bag 10
                                    Clayton South, Victoria 3169, Australia

Reprinted with permission from Journal of the American Chemical Society 1999, 121,10832-10833. Copyright 1999 American Chemical Society.

The following reflects the first 200 words of the journal article.

Carbon nanotubes are attractive for many potential applications, ^1,2 including new electron field emitters in panel displays,³ single-molecular transistors in microelectronics,⁴ molecular-filtration membranes,⁵ and artificial muscles.⁶ The preparation of aligned and/or patterned carbon nanotubes is of paramount importance to the above and many other applications. Aligned carbon nanotubes have been prepared either by postsynthesis fabrication⁷ or by synthesis-induced alignment,⁸ while several rational approaches have been reported for fabricating micro-patterns of randomly oriented nanotubes.^9,10 Very recently, two research groups have independently reported the preparation of carbon nanotube patterns with constituent nanotubes aligned normal to the substrate surface.^11,12 In particular, we have produced patterns of perpendicularly aligned carbon nanotubes through growth of the nanotubes on a partially masked surface by pyrolysis of molecules containing both the metal catalyst and carbon source required for the nanotube growth (e.g., iron(II) phthalocyanine, FePc).¹² We have also developed a contact printing process for region-specific transfer of a substrate-free aligned nanotube film onto various substrates, including those which otherwise may not be suitable for nanotube growth at high temperatures (e.g., polymer films).¹² As can be seen in both refs 11 and 12, however, the use of physical masks, rather than photomasks, with features on the order of…


To view this article in its entirety, please see The American Chemical Society Publication, Journal of the American Chemical Society Volume 121, Number 46 pages 10832-10833 of November 24,1999 or visit the website: http://pubs.acs.org/JACS.