Alignment and Characterization of Carbon Nanotubes on Photolithographically Patterned Electrodes

The goal of this work is to make an (n,m) assignment for individual suspended single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) based on the measurements of their Raman Radial Breathing Modes and electron transition energies Eii based on Raman spectroscopy. The suspended SWNTs are grown on a photolithographically defined electrode pattern, which is designed so that suspended SWNTs are grown at known locations with known directions. The suspended SWNTs are then characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Raman spectroscopy. Finally, the information on the diameter distribution and the energy of the electronic transitions of the resonant suspended SWNTs obtained from Raman spectroscopy is compared to other published works to make (n,m) assignments of a number of suspended SWNTs. Thesis Supervisor: Mildred S. Dresselhaus Title: Institute Professor of Physics and Electrical Engineering