Density measurement for carbon nanotube film grown on flat substrates

Abstract

An X-ray absorption method for measuring the density of vertically aligned carbon nanotube film grown on a flat substrate is proposed. X-rays can penetrate the film parallel to the surface direction, and the transmitted X-rays are detected by an X-ray camera, which enables the film, substrate, and air regions to be distinguished in the observed X-ray image. When the sample surface is aligned just parallel to the penetrating direction of the X-rays, the transmittance of the film can be observed. The film density is calculated from the observed transmittance if the elemental composition of the film material is known.