SYNTHESIS OF INDIVIDUAL SINGLE-WALLED CARBON NANOTUBES ON PATTERNED SILICON-WAFERS

Recent progress(1-3) in the synthesis of high-quality single-walled ca rbon nanotubes(4) (SWNTs) has enabled the measurement of their physica l and materials properties(5-8). The idea that nanotubes might be inte grated with conventional microstructures to obtain new types of nanosc ale devices, however, requires an ability to synthesize, isolate, mani pulate and connect individual nanotubes. Here we describe a strategy f or making high-quality individual SWNTs on silicon wafers patterned wi th micrometre-scale islands of catalytic material. We synthesize SWNTs by chemical vapour deposition of methane on the patterned substrates. Many of the synthesized nanotubes are perfect, individual SWNTs with diameters of 1-3 nm and lengths of up to tens of micrometres. The nano tubes are rooted in the islands, and are easily located, characterized and manipulated with the scanning electron microscope and atomic forc e microscope. Some of the : SWNTs bridge two metallic islands, offerin g the prospect of using this approach to develop ultrafine electrical interconnects and other devices.