Direct Synthesis of Carbon Nanotubes in CMOS - Layout of Micro-heaters

Direct integration of Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) in CMOS is important for commercially manufacturing low-cost CNT-based sensors. In such compact sensors, CNTs would act as sensing element, and CMOS circuits would process relevant signals from the CNTs. CNTs can be directly synthesized and integrated into CMOS by local thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD), where a hot spot of similar to 900 degrees C can be generated by CMOS micro-heaters. However, a sufficient thermal gradient between the micro-heaters and nearest CMOS devices is a prerequisite to ensure non-destructive temperature (< 300 degrees C) in the electronic circuit regions. Our previous works have shown modelling and simulation of various CMOS micro-heaters that are promising for fulfilling these temperature requirements. In this paper, we investigate the layout designs of different metal and polysilicon micro-heaters using AMS 0.35 mu m CMOS process. Optical micrographs of the fabricated micro-heaters are also presented.