The rapid growth of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes using laser heating

Abstract

Growth of densely packed vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VA-CNTs)using laser-induced chemical vapor deposition with visible laser (λ = 532 nm)irradiation at room temperature is reported. Using a multiple-catalyst layer (Fe/Al/Cr) on quartzas the substrate and an acetylene–hydrogen mixture as the precursor gas, VA-CNT pillars with 60 µm heightand 4 µm diameter were grown at a high rate of around 1 µm s−1 with good reproducibility. It is demonstrated that the fabrication of uniformpillar arrays of VA-CNTs can be achieved with a single irradiation for each pillarusing LCVD with no annealing or preprocessing of the substrate. Here, laser fastheating is considered the primary mechanism facilitating the growth of VA-CNTpillars. Field emission characteristics of an array of VA-CNT pillars were thenexamined to investigate their potential application in vacuum electronic devices.