AVS 51st International Symposium
    Nanometer-scale Science and Technology Wednesday Sessions
       Session NS-WeA

Paper NS-WeA4
Measurement of the Mechanical Adhesion between a Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube and a Silicon Dioxide Substrate

Wednesday, November 17, 2004, 3:00 pm, Room 213D

Session: Nanotribology and Nanomechanics
Presenter: J. Whittaker, Brigham Young University
Authors: J. Whittaker, Brigham Young University
E. Minot, Cornell University
D. Tanenbaum, Pomona College
P. McEuen, Cornell University
R.C. Davis, Brigham Young University
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Nanotubes were grown over a lithographically defined set of trenches, 60 nm deep and 300 nm wide on a pitch of 500 nm. After finding a nanotube that crossed three or more trenches, we used an atomic force microscope (AFM) to measure the amount of force required to make a single-walled carbon nanotube slip along the silicon dioxide trench tops. This measurement was made by pushing down on the tube with the AFM probe until slip was observed in the force-distance curve. The amount of slack in the slipped tube was also measured by looking at neighboring trenches, giving a force per unit length result.