Patent ID: 8029760

Claim:
A method of manufacturing carbon nanotubes, comprising: a first step of forming an aluminum layer on a surface of a substrate, and forming a natural oxidation film on a surface of the aluminum layer to form minute concavities and convexities at a surface of the natural oxidation film; a second step of forming a catalyst metal layer having a film thickness of 0.2 nm-0.4 nm on the natural oxidation film surface having the concavities and convexities; a third step of subjecting the substrate to a heat treatment to change the catalyst metal layer into a plurality of isolated fine particles; a fourth step of subjecting the substrate supporting the plurality of fine particles to a carbon-containing gas atmosphere to grow the carbon nanotubes on the catalyst metal fine particles by a CVD method using the carbon-containing gas; and, wherein an agglutination of the isolated fine particles is inhibited by the concavities and convexities of the natural oxidation film during the heat treatment.