Selective Growth of Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes Uniformly Grown by Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition System

Single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) have been synthesized by plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) system on Fe catalyst at low temperature. Iron (Fe) catalyst layer of approximately 2 nm thick was deposited on Si substrate using RF sputtering system. In the present study, we have demonstrated that the pre-treatment plays a great role in controlling the diameter of SWCNTs. In addition, the catalyst particles also help in controlling the diameter distribution of SWCNTs. Hydrogen was used for the pre-treatment of catalyst and acetylene was used as a carbon source. An optimization of different parameters such as pre-treatment temperature, gas flow rate, pressure was done and presented here to obtain a selective diameter distribution and length in the range of several micrometers. Highly uniform growth of as grown SWCNTs was characterised by scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Field emission studies have also done for applications of display devices.