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Penetration Depth Variation In Atomic Layer Deposition On Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube Forests, David Alan Kane

Theses and Dissertations

Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) of Al2O3 on tall multiwalled carbon nanotube forests shows concentration variation with the depth in the form of discrete steps. While ALD is capable of extremely conformal deposition in high aspect ratio structures, decreasing penetration depth has been observed over multiple thermal ALD cycles on 1.3 mm tall multiwalled carbon nanotube forests. SEM imaging with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy elemental analysis shows steps of decreasing intensity corresponding to decreasing concentrations of Al2O3. A study of these steps suggests that they are produced by a combination of diffusion limited delivery of precursors with increasing precursor adsorption site …