Carbon nanotubes are being studied increasingly for their versatility and interesting properties. However, their incorporation into conventional microcircuits requires their synthesis and integration into silicon wafers, an important microelectronic material. Now, Jing Kong and his collaborators at Stanford University, USA, have reported a method to make high quality single-walled nanotubes on silicon wafers. The nanotubes are synthesised by chemical deposition of methane. The tubes obtained are perfect and are rooted in the silicon wafer. This could be a big step towards the integration of these tubes in conventional circuits making them more powerful ( Nature , Vol 395, p878).
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