A chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process is described that uses a susceptor to absorb the microwave and self-generate the heat for growing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on a Si substrate. A high deposition rate of CNTs over a large area has been achieved, compared to the conventional CVD process, in which the reaction chamber was heated to the growing temperature (similar to 1100 degreesC) to trigger the reaction between the CH4 gas species and the catalyst. The modified CVD process possesses a pronounced advantage in the simplicity of the react on chamber design because no external heating is required. The size of the substrate is, in principle, unlimited as long as the susceptors can absorb the microwave uniformly. However, the design of the processing chamber and the choice of susceptors are very critical for successfully growing the CNTs using such a microwave-assisted CVD process.