Carbon nanotube growth from Cu–Co alloys for field emission applications

Abstract

We have developed a method of catalyst preparation for carbon nanotube (CNT) growth that uses solid-state diffusion to precipitate Co particles in a Cu matrix and control the size and size distribution of catalyst particles. Copper is an excellent electrical and thermal conductor, and has a small or negligible solubility for Co. Cu–Co alloys of approximately 5 atm% Co were formed in bulk by splat quenching the liquid alloy and on Si substrates by e-beam evaporation of the alloy, sputtering of the alloy, and sputter deposition of thin films of pure Cu and Co. The Co easily precipitates from dilute solutions of Cu–Co with heat treatment. These alloys and films were used to generate uniform distributions of Co precipitates, and CNTs were successfully grown by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PE-CVD) and thermal CVD on the materials. These alloys can be patterned by photolithography and sputtering in order to grow CNTs in defined locations. Therefore, the technique is amenable to very large scale silicon integration for field emission applications. The results of this work and data from field emission studies are presented herein.