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Synthesis of Vertically Aligned Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes on Copper Substrates for Applications as Thermal Interface Materials

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

WEI LIN  and
Chingping Wong
WEI LIN
Affiliation:
[email protected], Georgia Institute of Technology, Materials science and engineering, ATLANTA, Georgia, United States
Chingping Wong
Affiliation:
[email protected], Georgia Institute of Technology, school of materials science and engineering, 771 Ferst Drive NW., School of Material Science & Engineering, ATLANTA, Georgia, 30332, United States
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Abstract

Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs) grown on bulk copper substrate are of great importance for CNT real-life applications as thermal interface materials in microelectronic packaging. However, their reproducible synthesis has been a great challenge so far. In this study, by introducing a well-controlled conformal Al2O3 support layer on the bulk copper substrate by atomic layer deposition (ALD) prior to the deposition of the iron catalyst layer, we reproducibly synthesize VACNTs of good alignment and high quality on the copper substrate, using a conventional thermal chemical vapor deposition process. The alignment and the quality are characterized by scanning electronic microscopy and Raman spectroscopy, respectively. The roles of the conformal Al2O3 support layer are discussed. A kinetics-controlled growth mechanism is shown. This progress provides a viable VACNT commercial application for thermal management, on the basis of which, we show a recent progress on a state-of-art Si/VACNT/Cu assembling process, named “chemical anchoring”. The high quality of the VACNTs on the copper growth substrate and the covalent bonding formed between the VACNTs and the silicon mating substrate greatly reduces the thermal resistance of the VACNT-mediated thermal interface.

Keywords

packagingchemical vapor deposition (CVD) (deposition)nanoscale
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1158: Symposium F – Packaging, Chip-Package Interactions and Solder Materials Challenges , 2009 , 1158-F03-01
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2009

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