Formation of Freestanding Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotubes by Plasma‐Enhanced CVD

Freestanding individual single‐walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are successfully produced using plasma‐enhanced (PE)CVD. The quantitative effects of plasmas on SWNT growth are also discussed on the basis of detailed plasma measurements and simple calculations. According to these quantitative results, it is found that the plasma sheath effectively plays the role of driving force in making individual SWNTs stand vertically on a substrate surface. This three‐dimensional alignment control of individual SWNTs based on plasma science and technology has huge potential to create a new type of architecture for future nanotube devices.