Nanopattern formation using localized plasma for growth of single-standing carbon nanotubes

We report a novel method for formation of self-organized single-standing carbon nanotubes by customizing a plasma-based process. The growth of carbon nanotubes by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition provides suitable grounds to utilize plasma–solid interactions for nanopatterning. The bulk plasma is utilized to fabricate carbon nanotubes on the prepatterned Ni catalyst which in turn can confine the plasma to the growth region. The plasma localization leads to a dielectrophoretic force exerted on Ni atoms and can be engineered in order to grow a specific pattern of self-organized single-standing carbon nanotubes. Numerical simulations based on the plasma localization and dielectrophoretic force confirmed the experimental results. This method provides a simple and cost-effective approach to obtain nanopatterned arrays of carbon nanotubes which can be used for fabrication of photonic and phononic crystals, self-gated field emission-based transistors and displays. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]