Low temperature synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotubes in an inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition system

In this work, we present a parametric study on the low temperature synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) in an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) CVD system using dry bi-layered catalytic thin-films (Fe/Al and Ni/Al, deposited by electron-beam evaporation method) as the catalysts. With a low substrate temperature of 550 degrees C and above, SWNTs were successfully synthesized on both catalysts, as revealed from the characteristic peaks of SWNTs in the micro-Raman spectra. By the reduction of plasma power and the shortening of the process times, the lowest synthesis temperature of SWNTs achieved in our system was approached to 500 degrees C on Ni/Al catalysts; on the other hands, the lowest temperature for Fe/Al catalysts was 550 degrees C. Our results suggest that as compared with Fe/Al, Ni/Al is more favorable for plasma-enhanced CVD (PECVD) synthesis of SWNTs at low temperatures. This work can be used for further improvements and better understanding on the production processes of SWNTs by PECVD methods.