• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.348-348
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• 2011

Carbon nanotube (CNT) field effect transistors and sensors use CNT as a current channel, of which the resistance varies with the gate voltage or upon molecule adsorption. Since the performance of CNT devices depends very much on the CNT/metal contact resistance, the CNT/electrode contact must be stable and the contact resistance must be small. Depending on the geometry of CNT/electrode contact, it can be categorized into the end-contact, embedded-contact (top-contact), and side-contact (bottom-contact). Because of difficulties in the sample preparation, the end-contact CNT device is seldom practiced. The embedded-contact in which CNT is embedded inside the electrode is desirable due to its rigidness and the low contact resistance. Fabrication of this structure is complicated, however, because each CNT has to be located under a high-resolution microscope and then the electrode is patterned by electron beam lithography. The side-contact is done by depositing CNT electrophoretically or by precipitating on the patterned electrode. Although this contact is fragile and the contact resistance is relatively high, the side-contact by far has been widely practiced because of its simple fabrication process. Here we introduce a simple method to embed CNT inside the electrode while taking advantage of the bottom-contact process. The idea is to utilize a eutectic material as an electrode, which melts at low temperature so that CNT is not damaged while annealing to melt the electrode to embed CNT. The lowering of CNT/Au contact resistance upon annealing at mild temperature has been reported, but the electrode in these studies did not melt and CNT laid on the surface of electrode even after annealing. In our experiment, we used a eutectic Au/Al film that melts at 250$^{\circ}C$. After depositing CNT on the electrode made of an Au/Al thin film, we annealed the sample at 250$^{\circ}C$ in air to induce eutectic melting. As a result, Au-Al alloy grains formed, under which the CNT was embedded to produce a rigid and low resistance contact. The embedded CNT contact was as strong as to tolerate the ultrasonic agitation for 90 s and the current-voltage measurement indicated that the contact resistance was lowered by a factor of 4. By performing standard fabrication process on this CNT-deposited substrate to add another pair of electrodes bridged by CNT in perpendicular direction, we could fabricate a CNT cross junction. Finally, we could conclude that the eutectic alloy electrode is valid for CNT sensors by examine the detection of Au ion which is spontaneously reduced to CNT surface. The device sustatined strong washing process and maintained its detection ability.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.59-62
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• 2017

CNT (carbon nanotube) resistors with low resistance and negative TCR (temperature coefficient of resistance) were fabricated with yarned CNT (carbon nanotube) fibers. The CNT fibers were prepared by yarning CNTs grown on the silicone substrate by CVD (chemical vapor deposition) method. The CNT resistors were fabricated by winding CNT fibers on the surface of ceramic rod. Both metal terminals were connected with the CNT fiber wound on the ceramic rod. We measured electrical resistance and thermal stability with the number of CNT fibers wound. The CNT resistor system shows linearly decreased resistance with the number of CNTs wound on the ceramic rod and saturated at 20 strands. The CNT resistor system has negative TCR between $-1,000{\sim}-2,000ppm/^{\circ}C$ and stable frequency properties under 100 kHz.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.115-119
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• 2011

A tip-type carbon nanotube(CNT)-based field emitter was studied to consider it as electron source for micro-focused x-ray tube. The CNT was grown directly on a metal (tungsten) substrate by using an inductively coupled plasma-chemical vapor deposition (ICP-CVD) method. Prior to CNT growth, the metal substrate was etched to have various tip angles from $10^{\circ}$ to $180^{\circ}C$ (flat-type). The morphologies and microstructures of all the grown CNTs were analyzed via field-emission SEM. Furthermore, the effects of substrate tip-angles on the emission properties of CNT-based field emitters were characterized to estimate the maximum current density, the turn-on voltage, and the spatial distribution of electron beams. Prolonged long-term stability testing of the CNT emitters was also performed. All the experiment results obtained from this study indicated why a tip-type CNT emitter, compared with a flat-type CNT emitter, would be more desirable for a micro-focused x-ray system, in terms of the emission current level, the focused beam area, and the emission stability.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 1999.07a
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• pp.175-175
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• 1999

Circumventing problems lying in the conventional lithographic techniques, we devised a new method for the fabrication of nanometer scale metal wires inspired by the unique characteristics of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Since carbon nanotubes could act as masks when CNT-coated thin Au/Ti layer on a SiO2 surface was physically etched by low energy argon ion bombardment 9ion milling), Au/Ti nano-wires were successfully formed just below the CNTs exactly duplicating their lateral shapes. Cross-sectional analysis by transmission electron microscopy revealed that the edge of the metal wire was very sharply developed indicating the great difference in the milling rates between the CNTs and the metal layer as well as the good directionality of the ion milling. We could easily find a few nanometer-wide Au/Ti wires among the wires of various width. After the formation of nano-wires, the CNTs could be pushed away from the metal nano-wire by atomic force microscopy, The lateral force for the removal of the CNTs are dependent upon the width and shape of the wires. Resistance of the metal nano-wires without the CNTs was also measured through the micro-contacts definted by electron beam lithography. since this CNT-based lithographic technique is, in principle, applicable to any kinds of materials, it can be very useful in exploring the fields of nano-science and technology, especially when it is combines with the CNT manipulation techniques.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.123-126
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• 2006

In this study, bottom-up type powder processing and top-down type SPD (severe plastic deformation) approaches were combined in order to achieve full density of carbon nanotube (CNT)/metal matrix composites with superior mechanical properties by improved particle bonding and least grain growth, which were considered as a bottle neck of the bottom-up method using the conventional powder metallurgy of compaction and sintering. ECAP (equal channel angular pressing), the most promising method in SPD, was used for the CNT/Cu powder consolidation. The powder ECAP processing with 1, 2, 4 and 8 route C passes was conducted at room temperature.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.15 no.5 s.86
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• pp.360-365
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• 2006

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been the subject of intensive studies for applications in the fields of nano technologies in recent years due to their superior mechanical, electric, optical and electronic properties. Because of their exceptionally small diameters (${\appros}\;several\;nm$) as well as their high Young's modulus (${\appros}1\;TPa$), tensile strength (${\appros}\;200\;GPa$) and high elongation (10-30%) in addition to a high chemical stability, CNTs are attractive reinforcement materials for light weight and high strength metal matrix composites. Although extensive researches have been performed on the electrical, mechanical and functional properties of CNTs, there are not many successful results on the mechanical properties of CNT dispersed nanocomposites. In this paper, we applied equal channel angular pressing for consolidation of CNT/Cu powder mixtures. We also investigated the hardness and microstructures of CNT/Cu nanocomposites used experimental for metal matrix composites.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.146-150
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• 2004

We researched carbon nanotube(CNT) cartridge as a CNT sample for the fabrication of nanotweezer which is composed of a couple of single CNT tip. Our CNT cartridge was made by dielectrophoretic methods, a kind of micromanipulation technique using electric field. Therein we intended to fabricate the CNT cartridge with just conventional function generators and a set of simple electrode. A knife edge and a flat metal electrode were employed as a couple of electrode, and these electrode pair faced each other with the gap. When the gap is filled with CNT suspension, we induced AC electric field into the gap. Then CNTs was attached on the sharp edge in knife edge by dielectrophoresis. This knife edge with attached CNTs is called as the CNT cartridge.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.554-560
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• 2009

We investigate a method for the electrochemical preparation of titanium dioxide/carbon nanotube ($TiO_2$/CNT) composites involving the electroplating of Ti in a titanium n-butoxide (TNB) electrolyte into a CNT matrix. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface areas of $TiO_2$/CNT composites decrease as the electrochemical operating time increases. Changes in XRD patterns show a typical anatase type on the $TiO_2$/CNT composite prepared with a CNT matrix by the electroplating method in a TNB solution. In SEM micrographs, the titanium complex particles are uniformly distributed on the CNT surface. The results of chemical elemental analysis for the $TiO_2$/CNT composites show that most of the spectra for these samples produce stronger peaks for carbon and Ti metal than for any other element. Finally, the prominent photoelectrocatalytic activities of the $TiO_2$/CNT composites can be attributed to the combined effects of photodegradation of $TiO_2$, electron assistance of CNT, and the application of a sufficient voltage.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.357-364
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• 2009

We investigate a method for the electrochemical preparation of titanium dioxide/carbon nanotube ($TiO_2$/CNT) composites involving the electroplating of Ti in a titanium n-butoxide (TNB) electrolyte into a CNT matrix. The BET surface areas of $TiO_2$/CNT composites decreased as electrochemical operating time increased. Changes in XRD patterns showed a typical anatase type on the $TiO_2$/CNT composite prepared with a CNT matrix by the electroplating method in the TNB solution. In SEM micrographs, the titanium complex particles were uniformly distributed on the CNT surface. The results of chemical elemental analysis for the $TiO_2$/CNT composites showed that most of the spectra for these samples produced stronger peaks for carbon and Ti metal than those of any other element. Finally, the prominent photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) activities of the $TiO_2$/CNT composites could be attributed to the combined effects of photodegradation of $TiO_2$, electron assistance of CNT and the application of a sufficient voltage.

• Composites Research
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.373-379
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• 2013

The coating of metal surface with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) has been studied for the heat transfer enhancement of the boiling and condensation of refrigerant. The MWCNT/copper composite powder was made by the attrition ball milling, which has been coated on the copper wafer by electrostatic powder coating and sintered with electric furnace. In this paper, experiments were performed to assess the characterization and comparison of CNT before and after sinterning and the morphology changes of the CNT/Cu-coated surface. The samples were examined by the scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDAX) and raman spectroscopy. To verify the heat transfer enhancement, boiling heat transfer tests were performed.