Chemical Vapor Deposition Using Ethylene Gas toward Low Temperature Growth of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Abstract

We demonstrate the growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) using ethylene-based chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and ferritin-induced catalytic particles toward growth temperature reduction. We first optimized the gas composition of H₂ and C₂H₄ at 500 and 30 sccm, respectively. On a planar SiO₂ substrate, high density SWNTs were grown at a minimum temperature of 760℃. In the case of growth using nanoporous templates, many suspended SWNTs were also observed from the samples grown at 760℃; low values of I D /I G in the Raman spectra were also obtained. This means that the temperature of 760℃ is sufficient for SWNT growth in ethylene-based CVD and that ethylene is more effective that methane for low temperature growth. Our results provide a recipe for low temperature growth of SWNT; such growth is crucial for SWNT-based applications.