Individual free-standing carbon nanofibers addressable on the 50 nm scale

Abstract

We report on the fabrication of arrays of free-standing carbon nanofibers (CNFs) individually addressable on the 50 nm scale. The template for CNF growth consists of a set of tungsten leads patterned with a catalyst dot at the tip of each terminal. The fabrication process involves electron-beam lithography, projection photolithography, reactive ion etching, and dc plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Discharge power is found to drastically influence the morphology of CNFs grown off single catalyst dots.