Bridging Growth of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes on Nanostructures by Low-Pressure Hot-Filament Chemical Vapor Deposition

Abstract

Suspended single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) bridging between Si- or SiO 2 nano-pillars were synthesized at low pressure using hot-filament chemical vapor deposition. The relation between the bridging probability of SWNTs and growth conditions was analyzed statistically. The bridging probability of the SWNTs strongly depends on pillar configuration, including pillar spacing, but is not significantly affected by the pressure, growth method, pillar material, and gas flow. These results indicate that environment in the gas phase has little influence on the suspended growth of SWNTs, and they support our vibratory growth model, in which the vibration of growing nanotubes plays a crucial role in bridging to an adjacent pillar.