US Patent 7510695 - Patterned nanotube growth

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7510695.html

This patent originating from Richard Smalley's group at Rice University has an early priority (1997) and teaches a basic method for patterning arrays of carbon nanotubes on a substrate. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method for forming a macroscopic array of fullerene nanotubes, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) providing an array of microwells on a substrate;

(b) depositing a metal catalyst in at least some of said microwells; and

(c) directing a stream of hydrocarbon or CO feedstock gas at said substrate under conditions that effect growth of fullerene nanotubes from the deposited catalyst.