Abstract
We have grown vertically aligned carbon nanotubes in a large area of Co-Ni codeposited Si substrates by the thermal CVD using $C_2$H$_2$gas. Since the discovery of carbon nanotubes, Synthesis of carbon nanotubes for mass production has been achieved by several methods such as laser vaporization, arc discharge, and pyrolysis. In particular, growth of vertically aligned nanotubes is of technological importance for applications to FED. Recently, vertically aligned carbon nanotubes have been grown on glass by PECVD. Aligned carbon nanotubes can be also grown on mesoporous silica and Fe patterned porous silicon using CVD. Despite such breakthroughs in the growth, the growth mechanism of the alignment are still far from being clearly understood. Furthermore, FED has not been clearly demonstrated yet at a practical level. Here, we demonstrate that carbon nanotubes can be vertically aligned on catalyzed Si substrate when the domain density reaches a certain value. We suggest that steric hindrance between nanotubes at an initial stage of the growth forces nanotubes to align vertically and then nanotubes are further grown by the cap growth mechanism.
