SGER: Self-Aligned Nanomanufacturing of Electronic Structures with Carbon Nanotubes

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The proposed research will establish a processing method to grow carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in a self-aligned manner and hence lay a foundation for the nanomanufacturing of future nanoelectronics using CNTs. The objective of this project is to develop a laser-based process that will achieve self-aligned growth of CNTs to connect metallic electrodes at room temperature, for the purpose to form interconnections and transistors in nanoelectronics. The proposed process will utilize light enhancement of metallic tips and directional control of CNT growth by an electrical field. The research team will systematically investigate: 1) light enhancement and nanoscale local heating at the apex of tip-shaped electrodes, 2) CNT growth between two metallic electrodes under laser irradiation, 3) growth direction control by an electrical field, and 4) real-time monitoring of electrical conductivity and growth end-point detection.The successful completion of the proposed project will lay a foundation for the nanomanufacturing of future nanoelectronics. The process to be developed will be a self-aligned process suitable for mass production. It is also compatible to the current manufacturing processes used in microelectronics. Therefore, this process can be used to integrate CNT devices and interconnections as key components in integrated circuits fabricated using the current semiconductor manufacturing infrastructures. The integration of CNT devices will improve the integration density, circuit functionality, power consumption and circuit speed with minimum additional capital investment. The proposed method will not raise the substrate temperature besides nanoscale local heating at the electrode apexes to facilitate CNT growth. Therefore, it will not degrade the device structures fabricated in previous steps.