Fabrication Of Alumina Buffer Layer For Water-assisted Carbon Nanotubes Growth By Magnetron Sputtering Method

Carbon nanotube(CNT) has become the focus of attention because of its excellent mechanical, electrical, optical and other properties. The method of water-assisted chemical vapor deposition can produce high quality CNT and the efficiency is excellent. Therefore, it has been widely applied. The catalyst plays a vital role in the synthesis of carbon nanotube.It can directly affect physical properties of CNTs. On the other hand, Al2O3 thin films, as a buffer layer between the base and catalyst, can affect the microstructure and properties of the catalyst. It's very important to prepare smooth and compact Al2O3 thin films with suitable thickness. The magnetron sputtering method has the following advantages: the deposition rate is high, and we can get the films we need at low temperature. Besides, the binding is good. So it is selected as the scheme to prepare Al2O3 thin films. In this paper, we carried out the following works for the purpose of preparing smooth and dense Al2O3 thin films with suitable size.(1) Understand the basic mechanism of magnetron sputtering. Be familiar with the steps of the magnetron sputtering apparatus. Choose the proper process parameters of the sputtering for the preparation of smooth dense Al2O3 films.(2) In the course of preparing Al2O3 films by reactive magnetron sputtering method, we got Al2O3 films with desirable ingredients by controlling the ratio of argon-oxygen content.We knew that Al2O3 films were in an amorphous state at room temperature. By controlling the sputtering pressure, power and the ratio of argon-oxygen content, the writer found that the appropriate sputtering power and moderate pressure conditions are conducive to a smooth and dense Al2O3 films. The paper can prepare the Al2O3 films with specific thickness by demarcating the growth rate of the Al2O3 films with different process parameters.