Focused Ion Beam Fabrication of Individual Carbon Nanotube Devices

Focused ion beam (FIB) techniques have found many applications in nanoscience and nanotechnology applications in recent years. However, not much work has been done using FIB to fabricate carbon nanotube devices. This is mainly due to the fact that carbon nanotubes are very fragile and energetic ion beam from FIB can easily damage the carbon nanotubes. Here we report the fabrication of carbon nanotube (CNT) devices, including electron field emitters, atomic force microscope tips, and nano-pores for biomedical applications. This is made possible by a unique, coaxial configuration consisting of a CNT embedded in a graphitic carbon coating, which was developed by us for FIB processing of carbon nanotubes. The CNT-based atomic force microscope tip has been demonstrated. The electron field emission from the tip and the side wall of CNT will be discussed. We will also report the fabrication of a multiwall carbon nanotube nanopore for future applications.