Flexible transfer of aligned carbon nanotube films for integration at lower temperature

Abstract

The high growth temperature of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) hinders their direct assembly on temperature-sensitive substrates. We present a method to transfer an aligned CNT film at room temperature to overcome this problem. Using a ‘liftoff’ technique with hydrofluoric acid solution, we separate the aligned CNT film from the silicon substrate. The lifted-off CNT film is suspended in water, remaining intact and aligned due to the crowding effect. We then transfer the suspended film to various substrates that are sensitive to high temperature. To illustrate the quality of the transferred CNT film, we demonstrate that the thermal interface resistance of the transferred CNT film is comparable with that of as-grown CNT film. This transfer process can be extended to many microelectronics applications, such as field emission devices, integrated circuit interconnects and sensors, requiring processing temperatures not compatible with CNT growth.

Highly Uniform 300 mm Wafer-Scale Deposition of Single and Multilayered Chemically Derived Graphene Thin Films

“…The successful transfer of one dimensional nanostructures has been demonstrated over reasonably large areas. [26][27][28] The advantage of the method reported here is that it can transfer very uniform CDG thin films on 300 mm wafers with yield of 100 %. This procedure leads to uniform lift-off of membranes consisting of atomically thin CDG films with poly meta methyl acrylate (PMMA) support, which can be readily handled as bulk film.…”

Growth of aligned multiwalled carbon nanotubes on bulk copper substrates by chemical vapor deposition

“…One approach is to transfer CNT arrays from Si substrates onto conducting substrates. 1,3,4 In this method, several intermediate steps were associated with preparing adhesive coating. Beside, the CNTs are usually distributed uniformly and do not adhere properly to the surface of the substrates.…”

Ultrafast Transfer of Metal‐Enhanced Carbon Nanotubes at Low Temperature for Large‐Scale Electronics Assembly

“…Furthermore, some methods introduced very complex processes which will lower transfer repeatability and scalability. Other researches25–30 on CNT transfer are also performed through a wet or chemical approach for various purposes, in which the transferred CNT structures are either difficult to position or not vertically aligned. In this study, we present a very timesaving and reliable method for CNT structures transfer at low temperature to address those problems.…”