US Patent 7268077 - Carbon nanotube reinforced metallic layer

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7268077.html

This patent from Intel (filed Dec. 2, 2005) teaches a method of using carbon nanotubes to reinforce electrical interconnections. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method, comprising: providing a plurality of carbon nanotubes adjacent to a surface of an interconnect structure; and disposing a metallic layer adjacent to the surface of the interconnect structure, the carbon nanotubes being substantially included within and in direct contact with the metallic layer.

However, some prior art may have been overlooked such as (for example):

a) US patent application 2003/0068432 teaching "an interconnected film 32 of single-walled carbon nanotubes on the substrate grown from the catalyzed reaction of the methane. Two metal electrodes 33 and 34 are formed over the substrate 30 using, for example, evaporation with a shadow mask" (see paragraph [0034]) or

b) Zhang et al. "Metal coating on suspended carbon nanotubes and its implication to metal–tube interaction" published in Chemical Physics Letters in 2000