Abstract
It is generally known that the catalyst particles promote tip or base growth of carbon nanotubes depending on the contact force between the catalyst particles and the substrate. We have investigated the correlation between the growth modes of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and the adhesion of Ni catalyst particles to the Si substrates. It is shown that Ni films (10 nm thick) deposited by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and electron beam evaporation are broken up into nanoparticles and/or islands when pretreated in NH3 gas ambient at 850 °C for 20 min. It is found that CNT growth on the PLD substrate proceeds by base growth mode, whereas CNT growth on the electron-beam evaporated substrate is operated by tip growth mode. The different CNT growth behaviors are explained in terms of the difference of the adhesion between the Ni catalyst particles and the substrate due to the different kinetic energy of depositing Ni particles.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 014301 |
| Journal | Journal of Applied Physics |
| Volume | 102 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2007 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported in part by MOE through BK21 program and Seoul R&BD program. The authors thank KOSEF and Center for Nanotubes and Nanostructured Composites for supporting this research. They also acknowledge the student support from the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation through Nano Systems Institute-National Core Research Center.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Physics and Astronomy