Growing Nanostructures on Micro Cantilever Provides New Platform for Materials Discovery

Georgia Institute of Technology Research News, 5 Jun 2006 Researchers have developed a new technique that could provide detailed information about the growth of carbon nanotubes and other nanometer-scale structures as they are being produced. The technique offers a way for researchers to rapidly and systematically map how changes in growth conditions affect the fabrication of nanometer-scale structures. Instead of a large furnace that is normally used to grow nanotubes as part of the chemical vapor deposition process, the Georgia Tech researchers grew bundles of nanotubes on a micro-heater built into an atomic force microscope tip. The tiny device provided highly-localized heating for only the locations where researchers wanted to grow the nanostructures. Read more