Freestanding vertically oriented single-walled carbon nanotubes synthesized using microwave plasma-enhanced CVD

Freestanding single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) have been synthesized in a vertical direction, perpendicular to the growth substrate, using applied DC substrate bias in a microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) synthesis process. The degree of alignment and spatial density of SWCNTs demonstrate a strong dependence on the magnitude of applied bias, with increased alignment and decreased density with increased bias. The unique synthesis environment created by the application of a negative substrate bias in PECVD aligns SWCNTs along electric field lines and decreases SWCNT density due to bombardment by positively charged hydrogen ions. Multi-excitation wavelength Raman spectroscopy reveals shifts in dominant RBM peaks with the application of dc bias. Use of this technique to orient SWCNTs in the vertical direction may allow for three-dimensional SWCNT-based device architectures.