Nanomechanical Structure with Integrated Carbon Nanotube

In this paper, we report on the fabrication method of a freestanding carbon nanotube (CNT) bridged between opposing silicon electrodes with a narrow gap (0.5-5 μm) that was fabricated by a silicon micromachining technique. After the metallization of nickel (Ni) or iron (Fe) as a catalyst for CNT growth, the CNT was grown between these electrodes with the application of a voltage of 30V during the growth by hot-filament chemical vapor deposition (HF-CVD) using acetylene diluted by hydrogen, as a source gas. The CNT was grown from the negative electrode to the other electrode. From the measurement of current-voltage (I-V) characteristics, the contact between the CNT and the silicon electrode shows ohmic behavior and the resistivity of the CNT was estimated to be approximately 4 × 10^-5 ωcm. This nanofabrication technique will be applicable to the nanomechanical elements integrated an individual CNT.