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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2011
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been proposed for applications in microelectronic applications, especially for electrical interconnects, thermal management, and nanodevices, due to their excellent electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties. In this paper, we reported a simple process to achieve simultaneous CNT growth and opening of the CNT ends, while keeping alignment of the original CNT films/arrays. The addition of relatively low reactivity oxidizing agents (water) into the reaction furnace enables the feasibility. We proposed using novel CNT transfer technology, enabled by open-ended CNTs, to circumvent the high carbon nanotube (CNT) growth temperature and poor adhesion with the substrates that currently plague CNT implementation. The process is featured with separation of high-temperature CNT growth and low-temperature CNT device assembly. Field emission testing of the as-assembled CNT devices is in a good agreement with the Fowler-Nordheim (FN) equation, with a field enhancement factor of 4540.