Chemically vapor deposited carbon nanotubes for vertical electronics interconnect in packaging applications

Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) have excellent electrical, thermal and mechanical properties. They are mechanically strong at nanoscale yet also flexible if made micro- or milli-meter long. They are synthesized from nano-sized catalyst particles and can be made up to millimeters. A lot of research studies have been spent on various properties of the CNTs. They are regarded as an alternative material in a lot of applications such as ICs, MEMS, sensors, biomedical and other composite materials, etc. Among them, the thermally grown CNTs using chemical vapor deposition method is of particular interested in electronics applications as an interconnect material. This paper reviews the use of CNTs as an interconnect material for packaging applications. The growth and post-growth processing of CNTs are covered and the tailoring of CNTs properties, i.e. electrical resistivity, thermal conductivity and strength, etc., is discussed. To make the electronics systems smaller, faster and more power efficient, CNTs as a potential new material are likely to provide the solution to the future challenges as the electronics systems are getting more and more functional and complex nowadays.