The parametric study of carbon nanotips grown by MWPECVD with controllable sharpness using various metallic catalysts

A parametric study for growing vertically aligned carbon nanotips utilizing microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition was presented. The effects of process parameters including process time, microwave power and applying bias were discussed. The height of nanotips was affected by the microwave power and process time. The growth of rod-shape or tip-shape structure depends on the microwave power. The high microwave power is favorable for growing rod-shape structure which results from the faster diffusion of carbon atoms in the metallic catalysts under high temperature. The sharpness of carbon nanotips seem possibly to be controlled by varying bias voltage. These carbon nanotips exhibit the characters of high number density and well vertical alignment. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the growth of carbon nanotips by different metallic catalysts, such as Au, Pt, Ag and Si, could be chosen for applying in various regions.