NANOELECTRONICS
Controlling Nanotube Growth

Next-generation computer chips, integrated circuits, and the microelectro-mechanical (MEMS) devices that power them depend upon carbon nanotubes that can be grown up, down, sideways, and in all three dimensions. Pulickel Ajayan and G. Ramanath are the first to achieve this unprecedented, specific, and controlled nanotube growth.

	Controlled nanotube growth in a silica-coated substrate

The research, reported in the April 4 issue of the journal Nature, paves the way for Lilliputian devices that depend on tiny networks and architectures. Ajayan and Ramanath have combined formerly disparate areas of research to grow and direct the assembly of nanotubes.

The method is based on a selective growth process that allows the nanotubes to grow perpendicular to the silica-coated substrate. By chiseling the silica into predetermined shapes, the researchers are able to precisely control and direct the nanotube growth. Their use of gas phase delivery of a metal catalyst, essential for nanotube growth, makes their growth process more flexible and more easily scalable than conventional methods.

“It’s a simple and elegant process that provides unprecedented control over nanotube growth,” Ajayan says.

CONTACT: Theresa Bourgeois, (518) 276-2840, bourgt@rpi.edu