Growth of vertically-aligned carbon nanotube forests on conductive cobalt disilicide support

Abstract

We report the thermal chemical vapor deposition of vertically-aligned multiwalled carbon nanotube forests directly onto electrically conductive cobalt disilicide (CoSi2) support using Fe as catalyst. We find that CoSi2 support layer is able to prevent the agglomeration of the catalyst and favor vertically-aligned growth better than a SiO2 support and comparable to an Al2O3 support. This is an unusual behavior for a conductive support. This is because CoSi2 has a lower surface energy than most metals or metallic compounds. This has great benefits in the application of CoSi2 as support for CNTs as horizontal and vertical interconnects.