US Patent 7291319 - Arc shaped CNT stacks

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7291319.html

This patent from researchers of Tsinghua University and Hon Hai Precision Industry teaches that the thickness of catalyst layers can be used to control growth rates of carbon nanotube arrays. This can be useful in creating bent and arcing shapes of carbon nanotubes which may be useful in forming electrical interconnects and other structures. Claim 1 reads:

1. A carbon nanotube-based device comprising: a substrate; a catalyst layer formed on the substrate, the catalyst layer comprising a plurality of catalyst blocks, each catalyst blocks being thicker gradually from a first end thereof to an opposite second end thereof, and the catalyst blocks each having a region with a thickness approximately equal to an optimum thickness for growing carbon nanotubes; and a plurality of carbon nanotube arrays extending from the catalyst blocks, the carbon nanotube arrays being arc-shaped, and bending in respective directions of deviating from the region of optimum thickness.