Template-Growth of Highly Ordered Carbon Nanotube Arrays on Silicon

This paper reports on the success in and the key conditions for direct growth of carbon nanotubes of unprecedented uniformity on silicon. The uniformity is ensured through the growth within the highly ordered nanopores of an alumina oxide template, which is in turn formed on silicon through anodization of aluminum of unprecedented thickness evaporated on silicon. The formation of highly ordered nanopore array by anodization of thick aluminum evaporated on a noncompliant substrate such as silicon is made possible through a specially designed process for evaporating thick aluminum of high quality and good adhesion