Controlled optical near-field growth of individual free-standing well-oriented carbon nanotubes, application for scattering SNOM/AFM probes.

Exploiting localized heat-generation density and the resulting enhanced temperature-rise for controlled growth of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is reported, and its potentials for batch-production of high-quality CNT probes are demonstrated. Optical near field chemical vapor deposition (ONF-CVD) benchtop fabrication schemes are developed for the localized integration of individual well-aligned carbon nanotubes without bending/buckling exactly at desired nanoscale sites. It is demonstrated that generating self-aligned catalyst nanoparticles superimposed on top of silicon nanotips, along with near-field induced absorption confinement, provide the ability to localize the generated heat at the nanotips apexes, and control the CNT growth locations. The nanoscale maskless controllability of the growth site is shown by properly tailoring ONF-CVD conditions to overcome overall heat exposure of the substrate for selective activation of catalyst nanoparticles located at apexes, from those dispersing all over the tips. The calculated local power densities and temperature profiles of the simulated tips, clearly demonstrate the confined heat and optimal gradient of generated temperature rise as the main factors affecting the growth. In addition to determining necessary processing conditions to control the localization and orientation of the growth, parameters affecting the length and diameter of the localized individually grown nanotubes are also presented. Optical near-field-based growth schemes can be extended for localized maskless fabrication of other nanoscale devices, beyond the diffraction limit, using photothermal effects.