The high-frequency transconductance and current noise of top-gated single carbon nanotube transistors have been measured and used to investigate hot electron effects in one-dimensional transistors. Results are in good agreement with a theory of 1-dimensional nano-transistor. In particular the prediction of a large transconductance correction to the Johnson-Nyquist thermal noise formula is confirmed experimentally. Experiment shows that nanotube transistors can be used as fast charge detectors for quantum coherent electronics with a resolution of $13\mathrm{μe/\sqrt{Hz}}$ in the 0.2-$0.8 \mathrm{GHz}$ band.
We use numerical simulations to analyze recent experimental measurements of short-channel carbon nanotube field-effect transistors with palladium contacts. We show that the gate strongly modulates the contact properties, an effect that is distinct from that observed in Schottky barrier carbon nanotube transistors. This modulation of the contacts by the gate allows for the realization of superior subthreshold swings for short channels, and improved scaling behavior. These results further elucidate the behavior of carbon nanotube-metal contacts, and should be useful in the optimization of high-p…
We measure the small signal, 1 GHz source-drain dynamical conductance of a back-gated single-walled carbon nanotube field effect transistor at both low and high dc bias voltages. At all bias voltages, the intrinsic device dynamical conductance at 1 GHz is identical to the low frequency dynamical conductance, consistent with the prediction of a cutoff frequency much higher than 1 GHz. This work represents a significant step towards a full characterization of a nanotube transistor for RF and microwave amplifiers.
We use numerical simulations to investigate the effect of electrostatics on the source and drain contacts of carbon nanotube field-effect transistors. We find that unscreened charge on the nanotube at the contact-channel interface leads to a potential barrier that can significantly hamper transport through the device. This effect is largest for intermediate gate voltages and for contacts near the ohmic-Schottky crossover, but can be mitigated with a reduction in the gate oxide thickness. These results help to elucidate the important role that contact geometry plays in the performance of carbon…
Most carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (CNTFETs) directly attach metal source/drain contacts to an intrinsic nanotube channel. When the gate oxide thickness is reduced, such transistors display strong ambipolar conduction, even when the Schottky barrier for electrons (or for holes) is zero. The resulting leakage current, which increases exponentially with the drain voltage, constrains the potential applications of such devices. In this paper, we use numerical simulations to show that if CNT based metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) FETs can be achieved by using heavily doped CNT sections as…
We demonstrate sensitive and fast electrical measurements of a carbon nanotube mechanical resonator. The nanotube is configured as a single-electron transistor, whose conductance is a sensitive transducer for its own displacement. Using an impedance-matching circuit followed by a cryogenic amplifier, the vibrations can be monitored in real time. The sensitivity of this continuous displacement measurement approaches within a factor 470 of the standard quantum limit.
For carbon nanotube transistors, as for graphene, the electrical contacts are a key factor limiting device performance. We calculate the device characteristics as a function of nanotube diameter and metal workfunction. Although the on-state current varies continuously, the transfer characteristics reveal a relatively abrupt crossover from Schottky to ohmic contacts. We find that typical high-performance devices fall surprisingly close to the crossover. Surprisingly, tunneling plays an important role even in this regime, so that current fails to saturate with gate voltage as was expected due to…
We investigate electronic transport properties of Schottky-barrier field-effect transistors (FET) based on double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWNT) with a semiconducting outer shell and a metallic inner one. These kind of DWNT-FET show asymmetries of the $I$-$V$ characteristics and threshold voltages due to the electron-hole asymmetry of the Schottky barrier. The presence of the metallic inner shell induces a large effective band gap, which is one order of magnitude larger than that due to the semiconducting shell alone of a single-walled carbon nanotube FET.
Hysteretic switching in the magnetoresistance of short-channel, ferromagnetically contacted individual single wall carbon nanotubes is observed, providing strong evidence for nanotube spin transport. By varying the voltage on a capacitively coupled gate, the magnetoresistance can be reproducibly modified between +10% and -15%. The results are explained in terms of wave vector matching of the spin polarized electron states at the ferromagnetic / nanotube interfaces.
Carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (FETs) with passivated coaxial gate structures have been fabricated after growth of contacted suspended single wall nanotubes (SWNTs) and subsequent coating with gate dielectrics. Electron Fabry-Perot interferences are observed in the FETs indicating ballistic transport in the coated structures. Reliable production of high-performance SWNT FETs has been obtained by combining patterned growth of SWNT arrays with feed-back controlled electrical breakdown to select desired semiconducting SWNTs, making large-scale SWNT FET fabrication achievable. P-type and…
We performed a comprehensive scaling study of Schottky barrier carbon nanotube transistors using self-consistent, atomistic scale simulations. We restrict our attention to Schottky barrier carbon nanotube FETs whose metal source/drain is attached to an intrinsic carbon nanotube channel. Ambipolar conduction is found to be an important factor that must be carefully considered in device design, especially when the gate oxide is thin. The channel length scaling limit imposed by source-drain tunneling is found to be between 5nm and 10nm, depending on the off-current specification. Using a large di…
Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have been grown via chemical vapor deposition on high-kappa dielectric SrTiO3/Si substrates, and high-performance semiconducting SWNT field-effect transistors have been fabricated using the thin SrTiO3 as gate dielectric and Si as gate electrode. The transconductance per channel width is 8900 S/m. The high transconductance cannot be explained by the increased gate capacitance; it is proposed that the increased electric field at the nanotube-electrode interface due to the high-kappa SrTiO3 decreases or eliminates the nanotube-electrode Schottky barrier.
High performance enhancement mode semiconducting carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (CNTFETs) are obtained by combining ohmic metal-tube contacts, high dielectric constant HfO2 films as gate insulators, and electrostatically doped nanotube segments as source/drain electrodes. The combination of these elements affords high ON currents, subthreshold swings of ~ 70-80 mV/decade, and allows for low OFF currents and suppressed ambipolar conduction. The doped source and drain approach resembles that of MOSFETs and can impart excellent OFF states to nanotube FETs under aggressive vertical scali…
We use a simultaneous flow of ethylene and hydrogen gases to grow single wall carbon nanotubes by chemical vapor deposition. Strong coupling to the gate is inferred from transport measurements for both metallic and semiconducting tubes. At low-temperatures, our samples act as single-electron transistors where the transport mechanism is mainly governed by Coulomb blockade. The measurements reveal very rich quantized energy level spectra spanning from valence to conduction band. The Coulomb diamonds have similar addition energies on both sides of the semiconducting gap. Signatures of subbands po…
High performance p- and n-type single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) field-effect transistors (FETs) are obtained by using high and low work function metals, Pd and Al as source/drain (S/D) electrodes respectively. Ohmic contacts made to chemically intrinsic SWNTs, with no or small Schottky barriers (SB), afford high ON-state currents up to 20 uA per tube. The lack of significant Fermi-level pinning at the nanotube-metal interfaces allows for fine-tuning of the barrier heights for p-and n-channel conductions by changing the contact metals. The air-stable p- and n-FETs thus obtained can be used …
The 1/f noise in individual semiconducting carbon nanotubes (s-CNT) in a field effect transistor configuration has been measured in ultra-high vacuum and following exposure to air. The amplitude of the normalized current spectral noise density is independent of source-drain current, indicating the noise is due to mobility rather than number fluctuations. Hooge's constant for s-CNT is found to be 9.3 plus minus 0.4x10^-3. The magnitude of the 1/f noise is substantially degreased by exposing the devices to air.
This work evaluates the performance of carbon nanotube field effect transistors (CNTFET) using few layer graphene as the contact electrode material. We present the experimental results obtained on the barrier height at CNT graphene junction using temperature dependent IV measurements. The estimated barrier height in our devices for both holes and electrons is close to zero or slightly negative indicating the Ohmic contact of graphene with the valence and conduction bands of CNTs. In addition, we also report that there is no correlation between the barrier height and thickness of graphene.
Building smaller transistors with enhanced functionality is critical in extending the limits of Moores law and meeting the demands of the electronics industry. Here we demonstrate transistor operation in a suspended single carbon nanotube (CNT) using feedback-enabled radiation pressure of a near-field focused laser that enabled significant changes in conductivity of the CNT. Further, using in-situ tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, we show that the change in conductivity of over five orders in magnitude is accompanied by self-induced defect states within the CNT. The entire structure is less tha…
Inspired by recent experimental realizations and theoretical simulations of thin silicon nanowire-based devices, we perform predictive first-principles simulations of junctionless gated Si nanowire transistors. Our primary predictions are that Si-based transistors are physically possible without major changes in design philosophy at scales of ~1 nm wire diameter and ~3 nm gate length, and that the junctionless transistor may be the only physically sensible design at these length scales. We also present investigations into atomic-level design factors such as dopant positioning and concentration…
Single electron transistors (SETs) are fabricated by placing single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) on a 100 nm wide local Al/Al2O3 bottom gate and then contacting with Pd electrodes. Coulomb oscillations up to 125 K were observed and charging energies of 12-15 meV with level spacing of ~5 meV were measured from the Couloumb diamond, in agreement with a dot size of ~100 nm, implying that the local gate defines the dot size by bending SWNT at the edges and controls its operation. This "mechanical template" approach may facilitate large scale fabrication of SET devices using SWNT.
Electronic transport in a carbon nanotube (CNT) metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) is simulated using the non-equilibrium Green's functions method with the account of electron-phonon scattering. For MOSFETs, ambipolar conduction is explained via phonon-assisted band-to-band (Landau-Zener) tunneling. In comparison to the ballistic case, we show that the phonon scattering shifts the onset of ambipolar conduction to more positive gate voltage (thereby increasing the off current). It is found that the subthreshold swing in ambipolar conduction can be made as steep as 40mV/d…
We report on microwave operation of top-gated single carbon nanotube transistors. From transmission measurements in the 0.1-1.6 GHz range, we deduce device transconductance gm and gate-nanotube capacitance Cg of micro- and nanometric devices. A large and frequency-independent gm of about 20 microSiemens is observed on short devices, which meets the best dc results. The capacitance per unit gate length of 60 aF/micrometer is typical of top gates on a conventional oxide with a dielectric constant equal to 10. This value is a factor of 3-5 below the nanotube quantum capacitance which, according t…
We use Kelvin Force Microscopy (KFM) to study the electrostatic properties of single-walled Carbon Nanotube Field Effect Transistor devices (CNTFETs) with backgate geometry at room temperature. We show that KFM maps recorded as a function of the device backgate polarization enable a complete phenomenological determination of the averaging effects associated with the KFM probe side capacitances, and thus, to obtain KFM measurements with quantitative character. The value of the electrostatic lever arm of the CNTFET is determined from KFM measurements, and found in agreement with transport measur…
We report on a new computational model to efficiently simulate carbon nanotubebased field effect transistors (CNT-FET). In the model, a central region is formed by a semiconducting nanotube that acts as the conducting channel, surrounded by a thin oxide layer and a metal gate electrode. At both ends of the semiconducting channel, two semi-infinite metallic reservoirs act as source and drain contacts. The current-voltage characteristics are computed using the Landauer formalism, including the effect of the Schottky barrier physics. The main operational regimes of the CNT-FET are described, incl…
We have investigated shot noise in a 6-nm-diameter, semiconducting multiwalled carbon nanotube FET at 4.2 K over the frequency range 600 - 950 MHz. We find a transconductance of 3 - 3.5 $μ$S for optimal positive and negative source-drain voltages V. For the gate referred input voltage noise, we obtain 0.2 and 0.3 $μ{V}/ \sqrt{Hz}$ for V>0 and V<0, respectively. As effective charge noise this corresponds to $2-3 \cdot 10^{-5}$ e/$\sqrt{Hz}$.
We explore the electric-field effect of carbon nanotubes (NTs) in electrolytes. Due to the large gate capacitance, Fermi energy shifts of order +/- 1 V can be induced, enabling to tune NTs from p to n-type. Consequently, large resistance changes are measured. At zero gate voltage the NTs are hole doped in air with E_F ? 0.3-0.5 eV, corresponding to a doping level of ? 10^{13} cm^{-2}. Hole-doping increases in the electrolyte. This hole doping (oxidation) is most likely caused by the adsorption of oxygen in air and cations in the electrolyte.
We report an experimental noise study of intermediate sized quasi ballistic semiconducting multiwalled carbon nanotube (IS-MWCNT) devices. The noise is two orders of magnitude lower than in singlewalled nanotubes (SWCNTs) and has no length dependence within the studied range. In these channel limited devices with small or negligible Schottky barriers the noise is shown to originate from the intrinsic potential fluctuations of charge traps in the gate dielectric. The gate dependence of normalized noise can be explained better using ballistic the charge noise model rather than diffusive McWhorte…
Choosing a suitable doping level of channel relevant to channel diameter is considered for determining the carbon nanotube field effect transistors' performance which seem to be the best substitute of current transistor technology. For low diameter values of channel the ratio of on/off current declines by increasing the doping level. But for higher diameter values there is an optimum point of doping level in obtaining the highest on/off current ratio. For further verification, the variations of performance are justified by electron distribution function's changes on energy band diagram of thes…
Band-to-band tunneling (BTBT) devices have recently gained a lot of interest due to their potential for reducing power dissipation in integrated circuits. We have performed extensive simulations for the BTBT operation of carbon nanotube metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (CNT-MOSFETs) using the non-equilibrium Green's functions formalism for both ballistic and dissipative quantum transport. In comparison with recently reported experimental data (Y. Lu et al, J. Am. Chem. Soc., v. 128, p. 3518-3519, 2006), we have obtained strong evidence that BTBT in CNT-MOSFETs is dominated by…
We demonstrate the realization of an electrically-driven integrated source of surface plasmon polaritons. Light-emitting individual single-walled carbon nanotube field effect transistors were fabricated in a plasmonic-ready platform. The devices were operated at ambient condition to act as an electroluminescence source localized near the contacting gold electrodes. We show that photon emission from the semiconducting channel can couple to propagating surface plasmons developing in the electrical terminals. Momentum-space spectroscopy suggests that excited plasmon modes are bound to the metal-g…
Junctionless transistors made of silicon have previously been demonstrated experimentally and by simulations. Junctionless devices do not require fabricating an abrupt source-drain junction and thus can be easier to implement in aggressive geometries. In this paper, we explore a similar architecture for aggressively scaled devices with the channel consisting of doped carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Gate all around (GAA) field effect transistor (FET) structures are investigated for n- and p-type doping. Current-voltage characteristics and sub-threshold characteristics for a CNTbased junctionless FET i…
Spectroscopic, time-resolved scanning photocurrent microscopy is shown to distinguish the intrinsic photoresponse of monodisperse semiconducting (99%) single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) from the extrinsic photoresponse of the substrate. A persistent positive photocurrent induced by near-IR excitation is attributed to the generation of free carriers by inter-band excitation in SWCNTs. For shorter excitation wavelengths, absorption by the Si substrate generates two types of photocurrent: a transient positive photoresponse, identified as a displacement current, and a persistent negative phot…
We report density-functional theory (DFT), atomistic simulations of the non-equilibrium transport properties of carbon nanotube (CNT) field-effect transistors (FETs). Results have been obtained within a self-consistent approach based on the non-equilibrium Green's functions (NEGF) scheme. Our attention has been focused on a new kind of devices, the so called bulk-modulated CNTFETs. Recent experimental realizations \cite{Chen,Lin_condMat} have shown that such devices can exhibit excellent performances, even better than state-of-the-art Schottky barrier (SB)-modulated transistors. Our calculatio…
Multiscale simulation approaches are needed in order to address scientific and technological questions in the rapidly developing field of carbon nanotube electronics. In this paper, we describe an effort underway to develop a comprehensive capability for multiscale simulation of carbon nanotube electronics. We focus in this paper on one element of that hierarchy, the simulation of ballistic CNTFETs by self-consistently solving the Poisson and Schrodinger equations using the non-equilibrium Greens function (NEGF) formalism. The NEGF transport equation is solved at two levels: i) a semi-empirica…
In this work, we simulate the expected device performance and the scaling perspectives of Carbon nanotube Field Effect Transistors (CNT-FETs), with doped source and drain extensions. The simulations are based on the self-consistent solution of the 3D Poisson-Schroedinger equation with open boundary conditions, within the Non-Equilibrium Green's Function formalism, where arbitrary gate geometry and device architecture can be considered. The investigation of short channel effects for different gate configurations and geometry parameters shows that double gate devices offer quasi ideal subthresho…
We incorporate an Al-AlO_x-Al single-electron transistor as the gate of a narrow (~100 nm) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET). Near the MOSFET channel conductance threshold, we observe oscillations in the conductance associated with Coulomb blockade in the channel, revealing the formation of a Si single-electron transistor. Abrupt steps present in sweeps of the Al transistor conductance versus gate voltage are correlated with single-electron charging events in the Si transistor, and vice versa. Analysis of these correlations using a simple electrostatic model demonstrat…
In this work, Dirac fermions have been obtained and engineered in one-dimensional (1D) zigzag phosphorus nanotubes (ZPNTs). We have performed a comprehensive first-principle computational study of the electronic properties of ZPNTs with various diameters. The results indicate that as the lattice parameter (Lc) along axial direction increases, ZPNTs undergo transitions from metal to semimetal and semimetal to semiconductor, whereas Dirac fermions appear at Lc ranging from 3.90Å to 4.10Å. In particular, a field effect transistor (FET) based on a 12-ZPNT (with 12 unit cells in transverse directio…
Single electron charging effects in a surface-gated InSb/AlInSb QW structure are reported. This material, due to its large g-factor and light effective mass, offers considerable advantages over more commonly used materials, such as GaAs, for quantum information processing devices. However, differences in material and device technology result in significant processing challenges. Simple Coulomb blockade and quantised confinement models are considered to explain the observation of conductance oscillations in these structures. The charging energy is found to be comparable with the energy spectrum…
Semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes are studied in the diffusive transport regime. The peak mobility is found to scale with the square of the nanotube diameter and inversely with temperature. The maximum conductance, corrected for the contacts, is linear in the diameter and inverse temperature. These results are in good agreement with theoretical predictions for acoustic phonon scattering in combination with the unusual band structure of nanotubes. These measurements set the upper bound for the performance of nanotube transistors operating in the diffusive regime.
We presents a data-calibrated compact model of carbon nanotube (CNT) field-effect transistors (CNFETs) based on the virtual-source (VS) approach, describing the intrinsic current-voltage and charge-voltage characteristics. The features of the model include: (i) carrier VS velocity extracted from experimental devices with gate lengths down to 15 nm; (ii) carrier effective mobility and velocity depending on the CNT diameter; (iii) short channel effect such as inverse subthreshold slope degradation and drain-induced barrier lowering depending on the device dimensions; (iv) small-signal capacitanc…
Optical emission from carbon nanotube transistors (CNTFETs) has recently attracted significant attention due to its potential applications. In this paper, we use a self-consistent numerical solution of the Boltzmann transport equation in the presence of both phonon and exciton scattering to present a detailed study of the operation of a partially suspended CNTFET light emitter, which has been discussed in a recent experiment. We determine the energy distribution of hot carriers in the CNTFET, and, as reported in the experiment, observe localized generation of excitons near the trench-substrate…
We report strategies of achieving both high assembly yield of carbon nanotubes at selected position of the circuit via dielectrophoresis (DEP) and field effect transistor (FET) yield using semiconducting enriched single walled carbon nanotube (s-SWNT) aqueous solution. When the DEP parameters were optimized for the assembly of individual s-SWNT, 97% of the devices show FET behavior with a maximum mobility of 210 cm2/Vs, on-off current ratio ~ 106 and on conductance up to 3 μS, however with an assembly yield of only 33%. As the DEP parameters were optimized so that 1-5 s-SWNTs are connected per…
High-performance solution-processed short-channel carbon nanotube (CNT) thin film transistors (TFTs) are fabricated using densely aligned arrays of metallic CNTs (m-CNTs) as source and drain electrodes, and aligned arrays of semiconducting enriched CNTs (s-CNTs) as channel material. The electrical transport measurements at room temperature show that the m-CNT contacted s-CNT array devices with a 2 um channel length perform superiorly to those of control Pd contacted s-CNT devices. The m-CNT contacted devices exhibit a maximum (average) on-conductance of 36.5 uS (19.2 uS), transconductance of 2…
Low-dimensional metallic transport is at the heart of modern high-performance transistors. While the best devices are currently based on III-V heterojunction quantum-well channels, we demonstrate that much greater performance gains reside in the unique properties of one-dimensional carbon nanotubes. Using recent experimental data, we show how the specific features of degenerate carrier kinetics in metallic nanotubes enable a novel class of quantum-confined signal detector whose current gain exceeds present transistor technology. We analyze the key interplay of degeneracy and scattering dynamic…
Floating gate transistor is the basic building block of non-volatile flash memory, which is one of the most widely used memory gadgets in modern micro and nano electronic applications. Recently there has been a surge of interest to introduce a new generation of memory devices using graphene nanotechnology. In this paper we present a new floating gate transistor (FGT) design based on multilayer graphene nanoribbon (MLGNR) and carbon nanotube (CNT). In the proposed FGT a multilayer structure of graphene nanoribbon (GNR) would be used as the channel of the field effect transistor (FET) and a laye…
We use infrared thermometry of carbon nanotube network (CNN) transistors and find the formation of distinct hot spots during operation. However, the average CNN temperature at breakdown is significantly lower than expected from the breakdown of individual nanotubes, suggesting extremely high regions of power dissipation at the nanotube junctions. Statistical analysis and comparison with a thermal model allow the extraction of the average tube-tube junction thermal resistance, ~4.4x10^11 K/W (thermal conductance ~2.27 pW/K). This indicates that nanotube junctions have a much greater impact on C…
Graphene field-effect transistors are widely used for development of biosensors. However, certain fundamental questions about details of their functioning are not fully understood yet. One of these questions is the presence of gate (leakage) currents in the electrolyte-gated configuration. Here, we report our observations considering causes of this phenomena on chemical vapor deposition (CVD) grown graphene. We observed that gate currents reflect currents that occur on the transistor surface similarly to a working electrode - counter electrode pair currents in an electrochemical cell. Gate cur…
The remarkable electrical and optical properties or single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) allowed for engineering device prototypes showing great potential for applications such as photodectors and solar cells. However, any path towards industrial maturity requires a detailed understanding of the fundamental mechanisms governing the process of photocurrent generation. Here, we present scanning photocurrent microscopy measurements on a double-gated suspended semiconducting SWNT and show that both photovoltaic and photothermal mechanisms are relevant for the interpretation of the photocurrent. W…
The energy bandgap is an intrinsic character of semiconductors, which largely determines their properties. The ability to continuously and reversibly tune the bandgap of a single device during real time operation is of great importance not only to device physics but also to technological applications. Here we demonstrate a widely tunable bandgap of few-layer black phosphorus (BP) by the application of vertical electric field in dual-gated BP field-effect transistors. A total bandgap reduction of 124 meV is observed when the electrical displacement field is increased from 0.10V/nm to 0.83V/nm. …
Carbon nanotube (CNT) electromechanical resonators have demonstrated unprecedented sensitivities for detecting small masses and forces. The detection speed in a cryogenic setup is usually limited by the CNT contact resistance and parasitic capacitance. We report the use of a heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) amplifying circuit near the device to measure the mechanical amplitude at microsecond timescales. A Coulomb rectification scheme, in which the probe signal is at much lower frequency than the mechanical drive signal, allows investigation of the strongly non-linear regime. The behavio…
We report on the fabrication and characterization of synthesized multiwall MoS2 nanotube (NT) and nanoribbon (NR) field-effect transistors (FETs). The MoS2 NTs and NRs were grown by chemical transport, using iodine as a transport agent. Raman spectroscopy confirms the material as unambiguously MoS2 in NT, NR, and flake forms. Transmission electron microscopy was used to observe cross sections of the devices after electrical measurements and these were used in the interpretation of the electrical measurements allowing estimation of the current density. The NT and NR FETs demonstrate n-type beha…
We present an approach for time-dependent quantum transport based on a self-consistent non-equilibrium Green function formalism. The technique is applied to a ballistic carbon nanotube transistor in the presence of a time harmonic signal at the gate. In the ON state the dynamic conductance exhibits plasmonic resonant peaks at terahertz frequencies. These vanish in the OFF state, and the dynamic conductance displays smooth oscillations, a signature of single particle quantum effects. We show that the nanotube kinetic inductance plays an essential role in the high-frequency behavior.
We study the effect of local modulation of charge density and carrier type in graphene field effect transistors using a double top gate geometry. The two top gates lead to the formation of multiple \emph{p-n} junctions. Electron transport measurements at low temperature and in the presence of magnetic field show various integer and fractionally quantized conductance plateaus. We explain these results based on the mixing of the edge channels and find that inhomogeneity plays an important role in defining the exact quantization of these plateaus, an issue critical for the metrology applications …
Recently, Coulomb blockade physics was observed at room temperature in a carbon nanotube single-electron transistor (H. W. Ch. Postma, et. al., Science 293, 76 (2001)). In this work, we suggest that these devices may be promising for studying the Kondo effect. In particular, they could allow for a detailed investigation of the 2-channel Kondo fixed point. Moreover, fabricating a similar device in a short nanotube could be promising for studying the effect of a magnetic impurity in an ultrasmall metallic grain. Experimental signatures of the Kondo effect in these systems is discussed.
We perform scanning photocurrent microscopy on WS2 ionic liquid-gated field effect transistors exhibiting high-quality ambipolar transport. By properly biasing the gate electrode we can invert the sign of the photocurrent showing that the minority photocarriers are either electrons or holes. Both in the electron- and the hole-doping regimes the photocurrent decays exponentially as a function of the distance between the illumination spot and the nearest contact, in agreement with a two-terminal Schottky-barrier device model. This allows us to compare the value and the doping dependence of the d…
We have fabricated carbon nanotube (CN) field-effect transistors with multiple, individually addressable gate segments. The devices exhibit markedly different transistor characteristics when switched using gate segments controlling the device interior versus those near the source and drain. We ascribe this difference to a change from Schottky barrier modulation at the contacts to bulk switching. We also find that the current through the bulk portion is independent of gate length for any gate voltage, offering direct evidence for ballistic transport in semiconducting CNs over at least a few hun…
We realized ambipolar Field-Effect Transistors by coupling exfoliated thin flakes of tungsten disulphide (WS2) with an ionic liquid-dielectric. The devices show ideal electrical characteristics, including very steep sub-threshold slopes for both electrons and holes and extremely low OFF-state currents. Thanks to these ideal characteristics, we determine with high precision the size of the band-gap of WS2 directly from the gate-voltage dependence of the source-drain current. Our results demonstrate how a careful use of ionic liquid dielectrics offers a powerful strategy to study quantitatively …
We present a simple and scalable technique for the fabrication of solution processed & local gated carbon nanotube field effect transistors (CNT-FETs). The approach is based on directed assembly of individual single wall carbon nanotube from dichloroethane via AC dielectrophoresis (DEP) onto pre-patterned source and drain electrodes with a local aluminum gate in the middle. Local-gated CNT-FET devices display superior performance compared to global back gate with on-off ratios 10^4 and maximum subthreshold swings of 170 mV/dec. The local bottom-gated DEP assembled CNT-FETs will facilitate larg…
We demonstrate the proof of principle for a ternary adder using silicon metal-on-insulator single electron transistors (SET). Gate dependent rectifying behavior of a single electron transistor results in a robust three-valued output as a function of the potential of the SET island. Mapping logical, ternary inputs to the three gates controlling the potential of the SET island allows us to perform complex, inherently ternary operations, on a single transistor.
We study the effect of polymer coating, pressure and temperature on the electrical characteristics of monolayer WSe2 back-gated transistors with quasi-ohmic Ni/Au contacts. We find that the removal of a layer of poly(methyl methacrylate) or decreasing the pressure change the device conductivity from p to n-type. We study the current-voltage characteristics as a function of the temperature and measure a gate-tunable Schottky barrier at the contacts with a height of 60 meV in flat-band condition. We report and discuss a change in the mobility and the subthreshold slope observed with increasing t…
We describe a method to fabricate clean suspended single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) transistors hosting a single quantum dot ranging in length from a few 10s of nm down to $\approx$ 3 nm. We first align narrow gold bow-tie junctions on top of individual SWCNTs and suspend the devices. We then use a feedback-controlled electromigration to break the gold junctions and expose nm-sized sections of SWCNTs. We measure electron transport in these devices at low temperature and show that they form clean and tunable single-electron transistors. These ultra-short suspended transistors offer the prospe…
