Synthesis of carbon nanotubes by chemical vapor deposition for field emitters

We synthesized highly aligned carbon nanotubes by thermal decomposition of acetylene gas using metal catalyst island. The alignment technique in this experiment is a very efficient method because it does not require any treatments before and after catalyst metal deposition, and can be achieved directly during the reaction process in the chemical vapor deposition chamber. Alignment of nanotubes was dominated by the uniform diameter and the high density of metal catalysts. In the field emission test, the comparative study progressed with aligned nanotubes and nonaligned nanotubes via the analysis of emission patterns on phosphor screen. (C) 2001 American Vacuum Society.