A novel microscopy technique for the characterization of carbon nanotubes

The interest of our research group is to develop and study advanced electron sources used for metrology and lithography in work supported by the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) contract LJ-413.001. The purpose of this thesis is to develop a rapid, non-contact, method to distinguish carbon nanotubes (CNT) either as metallic or semiconducting since this distinction is important when CNT are used as high performance electron emitters. The widespread interest in carbon nanotubes has also led to a general interest in their behavior and properties and the Schlieren microscopy technique developed here provides a rapid, sensitive, and quantitative way to examine the electrical behavior of CNT.