Device comprising carbon nanotube field emitter structure and process for forming device
AssigneesAgere Systems Inc., University of North Carolina
InventorsChristopher Andrew Bower, Otto Zhou, Wei Zhu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention provides improved devices containing adherent carbon nanotube films, in particular electron field emitter structures containing such films. Previously, attaining even moderate adherence of powdery or mat-like nanotubes to a substrate was difficult, because of the perfect fullerene structure of nanotubes, which tend to exhibit no dangling bonds or defect sites where chemical bonding to the substrate is able to occur. The invention overcomes these problems, and provides a strongly adherent nanotube film, by a variety of fabrication processes.
Claims17
A process for fabricating a device, comprising the steps of:
- providing a substrate, and
- disposing an adherent carbon nanotube film on the substrate,
- aligning at least 50 volume percent of the carbon nanotubes in substantially the same direction,
- wherein the substrate comprises at least one material selected from the group consisting of carbon-dissolving elements, carbide-forming elements, and low melting point materials.
A device comprising
- a substrate, and
- a carbon nanotube film formed on a surface of the substrate, the carbon nanotube film comprising at least 50 percent by volume carbon nanotubes;
- wherein, at least 50 percent of the carbon nanotubes are aligned in a direction generally parallel to an alignment axis.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.