US Patent 7456052 - Tethered CNTs for thermal interface

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7456052.html

This patent is another in Intel's continuing effort to find thermal interface solutions using carbon nanotubes. Claim 1 reads:

1. A process:

coating at least one surface of least one of a heat sink and of a die with a metal;

oxidizing carbon nanotubes ropes in sulfuric and nitric acids, whereby the carbon nanotubes ropes are cut into a plurality of short carbon nanotubes with open ends having carboxyl linkages attached thereto;

treating at least one end of at least some of a plurality of carbon nanotubes by applying organic moieties thereto; and

tethering one end of the at least some of the carbon nanotubes of the plurality of carbon nanotubes to the metal.