Fabrication of high thermal conductivity carbon nanotube arrays by self assembled Fe3O4 particles

The outstanding properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have induced widespread interest in researches and applications. A new approach of fabricating vertically aligned CNT arrays with good CNT size and distribution control, and enhanced substrate attachment is under development. This technique includes fabrication and size tuning of Fe3O4 nanoparticles, buffer layer preparation on Si substrates, self assembly of Fe3O4 nanoparticles on substrates, CNT synthesis by thermal CVD with optimized operation parameters. One application of the synthesized CNT arrays is serving as thermal interface material to meet the thermal management challenge in high power microelectronic packages. The thermal performance of the synthesized CNT arrays was evaluated.