Plasma breaking of thin films into nano-sized catalysts for carbon nanotube synthesis

Iron thin films deposited by pulse laser deposition (PLD) were broken into uniform nano-sized catalysts by plasma bombardment for carbon nanotube (CNT) synthesis. Size distributions of broken catalysts were obtained in terms of plasma discharge conditions. Vertically arranged high-density (1013 per m2) CNTs were synthesized using microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition (MP-CVD) system and the gas mixture of N2 and CH4 on optimally broken catalysts with few carbonaceous particles on a large area Si substrate. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Raman spectroscopy (RS) were used to evaluate the obtained CNTs.