Growth of Horizontally Suspended Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes for In-Situ Fabrication of Solar Devices

NovaSolix is developing antenna technology based solar devices used to capture solar energy with twice the efficiency at 20% of the cost and 20% of the weight per watt compared to current photovoltaic technology based products. In the NovaSolix solution, multi-wall carbon nanotubes (CNT) are grown into arrays of tiny antennas that are suspended between Aluminum ground/contact lines. In this paper, optimization of low temperature growth parameters for synthesizing multi-walled carbon nanotubes that bridge 0.5- 1.4μm wide trenches is described. The effect of temperature, NH3/C2H2 gas ratio and Ni catalyst layer in controlling the number of CNTs that bridge the trench is discussed. Characterization of the fabricated devices by Scanning electron microscope analysis and electrical resistance measurements is presented.