Growth of carbon nanotubes by atmospheric pressure plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition using NiCr catalyst

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were grown as a function of NiCr thickness using a modified atmospheric pressure plasma containing NH3(210 sccm)/N2(100 sccm)/C2H2(150 sccm)/He(8 slm) at low substrate temperatures (≤ 500 °C), and their physical and electrical characteristics were investigated for possible applications to field emission devices. The number of defects in the grown CNTs was decreased with increasing substrate temperature and the highest CNT growth rate of 1.0 μm/min was obtained at 500 °C with 10 nm thick NiCr. The turn-on electric fields of the CNTs grown at 450 and 500 °C with 10 nm thick NiCr were 2.6 V/μm and 3.7 V/μm, respectively.