Fabrication of individual carbon nanotubes and their arrays in a transmission electron microscope

In this study, we present an approach to manufacture individual and array-type carbon nanotubes in a transmission electron microscope. Semiconductor nanowires are used as templates to form a core-shell structure by depositing uniform amorphous carbon layers around the nanowires using electron-beam induced deposition. Joule heating produced by an applied external voltage melts the nanowires and crystallizes the amorphous carbon layer into nanotubes within a commercial in-situ scanning tunnelling microscope-transmission electron microscope probing system. Using this approach, carbon nanotubes with well controlled wall thicknesses, diameters and lengths have been fabricated. In-situ measurements of electrical properties reveal that the resultant carbon nanotubes have a semiconducting resistivity. By the demonstration of producing a nanotube array, this proof-of-concept approach opens a new pathway to fabricate high-performance carbon nanotube arrays with controllable morphology for practical applications.