Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2008 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, August 3 – August 7, 2008

This study focuses on the fabrication of two nanodevice prototypes which utilized vertical and horizontal carbon nanotubes used the focused ion beam to localize the catalysts, followed by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. First, metal-gated carbon nanotube field emitter arrays were fabricated on multilayer substrates containing an imbedded catalyst layer. Second, horizontally aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes were grown on a transmission electron microscopy grid. This allows the carbon nanotubes to be directly analyzed in a transmission electron microscope. It is expected that the methodology introduced here will open up opportunities for the direct fabrication of carbon nanotube based nanodevices.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2007 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA, August 5 – August 9, 2007

The low-temperature synthesis (450-560 degrees C) of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) on a triple-layered catalyst, Al/Fe/Mo, was performed using aromatic hydrocarbon radicals which were produced from the pyrolysis Of C2H2. Two approaches were used; in the first, these hydrocarbon radicals were produced using a high-temperature heater (830 degrees C), but the substrate where the SWCNTs were grown was placed on a thermal insulator above it such that the substrate was at a much lower temperature. In the second approach, a heated nozzle system operating at 830 degrees C was used to introduce the hydrocarbon radicals onto the substrate which was located a few centimetres below it. Both these approaches rely on the thermal dissociation and recombination Of C2H2 for the formation of complex high-order radicals, i.e. C6H9, C5H9, C6H13, whose presence was confirmed by in situ mass spectroscopy. The density of SWCNTs deposited could be correlated directly with the concentration of these precursors.

Extract Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2007 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA, August 5 – August 9, 2007

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2006 in Chicago, Illinois, USA, July 30 – August 3, 2005

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2005 in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, July 31--August 4, 2005