Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 December 2004
Bunched and multi-circularly wrapped carbon nanotubes (CNT) are observed to grow on alloy substrates based on iron group metals and copper by a microwave enhanced hot-filament method with a dilute gas of ammonia at a proper RF self-bias. The grown size of CNTs embodied in the grain sizes of conducting bulk alloy catalysts such as Cu-Ni, Cu-Fe, Cu-Co, and Cu-Ni-Fe-Co are controlled by a precursor time of hydrogen plasma etching. Species with different structural features and homogenization of CNTs samples are produced crucially attributed to various reactant gases and self-bias induced by the radio frequency field.