Controlling the thermal contact resistance of a carbon nanotube heat spreader

The ability to tune the thermal resistance of carbon nanotube mechanical supports from insulating to conducting could permit the next generation of thermal management devices. Here, we demonstrate fabrication techniques for carbon nanotube supports that realize either weak or strong thermal coupling, selectively. Direct imaging by in-situ electron thermal microscopy shows that the thermal contact resistance of a nanotube weakly-coupled to its support is greater than 250 Km/W and that this value can be reduced to 4.2(+5.6/-2.1) Km/W by imbedding the nanotube in metal contacts.