Nanospot welding of carbon nanotubes using near-field enhancement effect of AFM probe irradiated by optical fiber probe laser

Abstract

The miniaturization of electronic devices into the nanometer scale is indispensable for next-generation semiconductor technology, and carbon nanotubes are considered to be the promising candidates for the future interconnection wires. To study carbon nanotube interconnection during nanowelding, we propose a new nanospot welding method with the near-field enhancement effect of the metallic AFM probe tip irradiated by an optical fiber probe laser. Based on theoretically analyzing the near-field enhancement effect, we set up the experimental system for nanospot welding with good interconnection results of silver nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes, not only proving that the interconnection operation of CNTs can be effectively achieved through the melting process of nanoparticles by the thermal AFM probe tip irradiated by an optical fiber probe laser, but also providing a promising technical approach for nanospot welding.