Fabrication of carbon nanotube thermal interface material on aluminum alloy substrates with low pressure CVD.

High quality vertically aligned carbon nanotube (VACNT) arrays have been synthesized on bulk Al alloy (Al6063) substrates with an electron-beam (E-beam) evaporated Fe catalyst using low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD). The pretreatment process of the catalyst was shown to play a critical role. This was studied comprehensively and optimized to repeatedly grow high quality VACNT arrays within a wide range of thicknesses of catalyst layer (2-11 nm) and acetylene (C(2)H(2)) flow rates (100-300 sccm). The thermal performance of the resulting VACNT arrays was evaluated. The minimum interfacial thermal resistance of the Si/VACNT/Al interfaces achieved so far is only 4 mm(2) K W(-1), and the average value is 14.6 mm(2) K W(-1).