Investigation of quantum conductance in semiconductor single-wall carbon nanotubes: Effect of strain and impurity

Abstract

In this paper the effect of strain and impurity on the quantum conductance of semiconducting carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been studied by ab-initio calculations. The effect of strain and impurity on the CNT conducting behavior and physical characteristics, like density of states (DOS), band structure, and atomic local density of state (LDOS), is considered and discussed separately and simultaneously. Our results show that the quantum conductance of semiconductor CNTs is increased by compression strain, elongation strain, and replacing nitrogen and boron doping in its structure. The amount of increasing in the conductance depends on the type of strain and impurity. Conductance of CNT can be increased even more in the presence of both strain and impurity, consequently semiconducting CNT can show metallic properties. This can open the study on the possibility of changing the semiconducting/metallic properties of CNTs along its length and the use of semiconductor CNTs in interconnects.