Room temperature local synthesis of carbon nanotubes

We report the synthesis of carbon nanotubes (CNT) by localized resistive heating of a MEMS structure in a room temperature chamber. This is the first known vapor-deposition CNT growth method that does not require globally elevated temperatures. The localized, selective, and scalable process is compatible with on-chip microelectronics and removes necessity of post-synthesis assembly of nanostructures to form integrated devices. Synthesized nanotube dimensions are 5-50 nm in diameter and up to 7 μm in length. Growth rates of up to 0.25 μm/min were observed. This accomplishment makes possible the direct integration of CNT devices with on-chip transduction, readout, processing, and communications circuitry, facilitating integration of nanotechnology with larger-scale systems.