Growth of vertical carbon nanotubes according to the Al₂O₃ buffer layer preparation

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been extensively studied for several decades due to its promising properties. In this study, effects of the Al₂O₃ buffer layer on the growth of the wellorganized CNTs forest were studied. The buffer layers were prepared by the two methods, direct sputtering using Al with oxygen feeding and annealing the sputtered pure Al films to obtain Al₂O₃ films. FE-SEM and AFM results showed that the surface of the buffer layer by the first method was more clean and smooth. The CNTs forest using the first buffer layer showed better results both in the growth length and CNTs quality.