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Title: Effects of catalyst film thickness on plasma-enhanced carbon nanotube growth

Abstract

A systematic study is presented of the influence of catalyst film thickness on carbon nanostructures grown by plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition from acetylene and ammonia mixtures. We show that reducing the Fe/Co catalyst film thickness below 3 nm causes a transition from larger diameter (>40 nm), bamboolike carbon nanofibers to small diameter ({approx}5 nm) multiwalled nanotubes with two to five walls. This is accompanied by a more than 50 times faster growth rate and a faster catalyst poisoning. Thin Ni catalyst films only trigger such a growth transition when pretreated with an ammonia plasma. We observe a limited correlation between this growth transition and the coarsening of the catalyst film before deposition. For a growth temperature of {<=}550 deg. C, all catalysts showed mainly a tip growth regime and a similar activity on untreated silicon, oxidized silicon, and silicon nitride support.

Authors:
; ; ; ; ; ;  [1]
  1. Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1PZ (United Kingdom)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
20714029
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Journal of Applied Physics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 98; Journal Issue: 3; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.1989432; (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 0021-8979
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; ACETYLENE; AMMONIA; CARBON; CATALYSTS; CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION; COBALT; CRYSTAL GROWTH; IRON; MIXTURES; NANOTUBES; NICKEL; PLASMA; POISONING; SILICON; SILICON NITRIDES; THICKNESS; THIN FILMS

Citation Formats

Hofmann, S, Cantoro, M, Kleinsorge, B, Casiraghi, C, Parvez, A, Robertson, J, Ducati, C, and Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3QZ. Effects of catalyst film thickness on plasma-enhanced carbon nanotube growth. United States: N. p., 2005. Web. doi:10.1063/1.1989432.
Hofmann, S, Cantoro, M, Kleinsorge, B, Casiraghi, C, Parvez, A, Robertson, J, Ducati, C, & Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3QZ. Effects of catalyst film thickness on plasma-enhanced carbon nanotube growth. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1989432
Hofmann, S, Cantoro, M, Kleinsorge, B, Casiraghi, C, Parvez, A, Robertson, J, Ducati, C, and Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3QZ. 2005. "Effects of catalyst film thickness on plasma-enhanced carbon nanotube growth". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1989432.
@article{osti_20714029,
title = {Effects of catalyst film thickness on plasma-enhanced carbon nanotube growth},
author = {Hofmann, S and Cantoro, M and Kleinsorge, B and Casiraghi, C and Parvez, A and Robertson, J and Ducati, C and Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3QZ},
abstractNote = {A systematic study is presented of the influence of catalyst film thickness on carbon nanostructures grown by plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition from acetylene and ammonia mixtures. We show that reducing the Fe/Co catalyst film thickness below 3 nm causes a transition from larger diameter (>40 nm), bamboolike carbon nanofibers to small diameter ({approx}5 nm) multiwalled nanotubes with two to five walls. This is accompanied by a more than 50 times faster growth rate and a faster catalyst poisoning. Thin Ni catalyst films only trigger such a growth transition when pretreated with an ammonia plasma. We observe a limited correlation between this growth transition and the coarsening of the catalyst film before deposition. For a growth temperature of {<=}550 deg. C, all catalysts showed mainly a tip growth regime and a similar activity on untreated silicon, oxidized silicon, and silicon nitride support.},
doi = {10.1063/1.1989432},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/20714029}, journal = {Journal of Applied Physics},
issn = {0021-8979},
number = 3,
volume = 98,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 2005},
month = {Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 2005}
}