US Patent 7704462 - Apparatus for producing aligned CNT thermal interface

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7704462.html

This patent is from Intel and describes a system in which parallel plates provide an electric field in a vat of carbon nanotubes in order to align the nanotubes and form a thermal interface film. Claim 1 reads:

1. An apparatus comprising:

a slurry of carbon nanotubes in a liquid interstitial material;

a capacitor that includes plates, the plates being adapted to receive a portion of the slurry between the plates at least one of the plates being adjustable such that a distance between the plates can be changed; and

a voltage source to apply an electric field between the plates of the capacitor such that the electric field aligns nanotubes in the portion of the slurry that is between the plates to an orientation that is substantially perpendicular to the plates of the capacitor.