Nanotube Forest

Nanotube height, diameter and spacing affect a “densification” process developed by James Jian-Qiang Lü of Rensselaer Polytechnic University and his colleagues to compact carbon nanotubes into dense bundles.

These tightly packed bundles are efficient conductors that the reserarchers believe could one day replace copper as the primary interconnects used on computer chips and even hasten the development of next-generation 3-D integrated chips. If the nanotube bundles are too short, like those on the left, there is no densification at all. If the bundles are too tall, like those on the right, bundles are not rigid enough and tend to stick with one another after densification.

The middle region, where bundles are between 30-65 micrometers tall, demonstrates good densification.

Credit: Rensselaer/ James Jian-Qiang Lü�