Electronic devices based on purified carbon nanotubes grown by high-pressure decomposition of carbon monoxide

Abstract

The excellent properties of transistors, wires and sensors made from single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) make them promising candidates for use in advanced nanoelectronic systems. Gas-phase growth procedures such as the high-pressure decomposition of carbon monoxide (HiPCO) method yield large quantities of small-diameter semiconducting SWNTs, which are ideal for use in nanoelectronic circuits. As-grown HiPCO material, however, commonly contains a large fraction of carbonaceous impurities that degrade the properties of SWNT devices. Here we demonstrate a purification, deposition and fabrication process that yields devices consisting of metallic and semiconducting nanotubes with electronic characteristics vastly superior to those of circuits made from raw HiPCO. Source-drain current measurements on the circuits as a function of temperature and backgate voltage are used to quantify the energy gap of semiconducting nanotubes in a field-effect transistor geometry. This work demonstrates significant progress towards the goal of producing complex integrated circuits from bulk-grown SWNT material.