New technique could one day help improve the performance of microelectronics in devices ranging from batteries to spacecraft
Carbon nanotubes’ outstanding mechanical, electrical and thermal properties make them an alluring material to electronics manufacturers. However, until recently scientists believed that growing the high density of tiny graphene cylinders needed for many microelectronics applications would be difficult.
Now a team from Cambridge University in England has devised a simple technique to increase the density of nanotube forests grown on conductive supports about five times over previous methods. The high density nanotubes might one day replace some metal electronic components, leading to faster devices. The researchers report their finding in the journal Applied Physics Letters, which is produced by AIP Publishing.
“The high density aspect is often overlooked in many carbon nanotube growth processes, and is an unusual feature of our approach,” says John Robertson, a professor in the electronic devices and materials group in the department of engineering at Cambridge. High-density forests are necessary for certain applications of carbon nanotubes, like electronic interconnects and thermal interface materials, he says.
Robertson and his colleagues grew carbon nanotubes on a conductive copper surface that was coated with co-catalysts cobalt and molybdenum. In a novel approach, the researchers grew at lower temperature than is typical which is applicable in the semiconductor industry. When the interaction of metals was analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, it revealed the creation of a more supportive substrate for the forests to root in. The subsequent nanotube growth exhibited the highest mass density reported so far.
“In microelectronics, this approach to growing high-density carbon nanotube forests on conductors can potentially replace and outperform the current copper-based interconnects in a future generation of devices,” says Cambridge researcher Hisashi Sugime. In the future, more robust carbon nanotube forests may also help improve thermal interface materials, battery electrodes, and supercapacitors.
The Latest on: Nanotube forests
- New research finds carbon nanotubes show a love/hate relationship with wateron November 12, 2019 at 11:22 am
When water is dropped on a CNT forest, the CNTs repel the water, and it forms a sphere. However, when flipped over, the drop does not fall to the ground but rather clings to the surface. An ...
- Carbon nanotubes show a love/hate relationship with wateron November 12, 2019 at 10:28 am
New research reveals that carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as a coating can both repel and hold water in place, a useful property for applications like printing, spectroscopy, water transport, or harvesting ...
- New Pitt research finds carbon nanotubes show a love/hate relationship with wateron November 12, 2019 at 9:32 am
The forests are about 100 microns in height and so dense that there are over 100 billion (1011) CNTs in 1 cm2 area. Some amount of water sinks below the carbon nanotubes and clings to the hydrophilic ...
- Nanotube ‘forest’ snags viruses in its trunkson October 9, 2019 at 5:00 pm
A new tool uses a forest-like array of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes that can be finely tuned to selectively trap viruses by their size. The device can increase the detection threshold for ...
- Carbon nanotube forests as non-stick workbencheson September 25, 2019 at 5:00 pm
Only the news you want to read!
- Check Out This Eater Of Light, The Blackest Material Ever Createdon September 15, 2019 at 3:23 pm
A rather pricey diamond at the New York Stock Exchange turns into an unnerving void when coated with ... [+] a forest of carbon nanotubes. R. Capanna, A. Berlato, and A. Pinato The night is dark and ...
- Engineers develop 'blackest black' material to dateon September 13, 2019 at 5:16 am
The material is made from vertically aligned carbon nanotubes, or CNTs -- microscopic filaments of carbon, like a fuzzy forest of tiny trees, that the team grew on a surface of chlorine-etched ...
- Nanotube forests drink water from arid air: Rice University lab modifies arrays to capture, hold water for later useon June 10, 2019 at 5:00 pm
They modified carbon nanotube forests grown through a process created at Rice, giving the nanotubes a superhydrophobic (water-repelling) bottom and a hydrophilic (water loving) top. The forest ...
- Stretchy ‘nano-forest’ might power future wearableson May 4, 2019 at 5:00 pm
Crumpled carbon nanotube forests, or CNT forests, are a potential solution to the power needs of future wearable technology, say researchers. The newly developed supercapacitor demonstrates solid ...
- Crumpled Carbon Nanotube Forests to Power Medical Deviceson May 2, 2019 at 12:54 pm
Most implantable and wearable medical devices benefit from having on-board batteries powering them, but because conventional batteries have specific internal geometries, they end up being blocky and ...
via Google News and Bing News