A promising approach investigated here is to utilize thin film multilayer structures where the thickness of a catalyst layer at an exposed edge of photolithographically defined pattern determines the diameter of the nanotubes/nanowires grown from it. This can in turn be incorporated into photolithographically defined post structures resulting in an array of suspended nanowires for line-of-site shadow lithography. Success of the diameter control approach has been shown by selectively growing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) from narrow lines (12-60 nm) of SiO2, Fe, Ni, Co on micron-scale patterned substrates in a ferrocene or nonferrocene catalyzed CVD process. In addition, the concept has been extended to VS growth of CuO nanowires and VLS growth of ZnO nanowires from an exposed edge in a Al2O3/Cu(40-100 nm)/Al2O3 and Al2O3/Au(10 nm)/Al2O3 thin film multilayer structures. The exposed middle layer of patterned thin-film multilayer acts as a nm-scale wide selective growth area. The resultant CNT/nanowire diameter is directly related to the catalyst/catalyst support size. Growth kinetic studies of CuO nanowires from a thin film multilayer structure indicate diffusion controlled process. Dispersion of CNTs between lithographically defined trenches of width of 200 nm and depth of 500 nm when coupled with line-of-site deposition resulted in nm-scale line underneath the suspended CNT. The width of the resulting shadow is nearly a simple function of CNT/nanowire diameter, incident evaporation angle, and height of CNT above the substrate in a line-of-site evaporation geometry. Another promising approach to control the placement of nanotubes/nanowires is the selective functionalization of only their tips followed by selfassembly onto chemically patterned substrates. Towards this goal, arrays of aligned CNTs were impregnated with polystyrene to form aligned CNT membranes. These CNT membranes were also studied for gas and ionic transport studies. Different functionalization chemistry was performed on each side of the membrane. After dissolution of polymer matrix, a suspension of CNTs with different functionality at each tip was formed, allowing for sophisticated selfassembled architectures.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uky.edu/oai:uknowledge.uky.edu:gradschool_diss-1397 |
| Date | 01 January 2006 |
| Creators | Chopra, Nitin |
| Publisher | UKnowledge |
| Source Sets | University of Kentucky |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations |
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