Ten- to 50-nm-long quasi-ballistic carbon nanotube devices obtained without complex lithography

A simple method combining photolithography and shadow (or angle) evaporation is developed to fabricate single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) devices with tube lengths of approximately 10-50 nm between metal contacts. Large numbers of such short devices are obtained without the need of complex tools such as electron beam lithography. Metallic SWCNTs with lengths of approximately 10 nm, near the mean free path of l(op) approximately 15 nm for optical phonon scattering, exhibit nearly ballistic transport at high biases and can carry unprecedented 100-microA currents per tube. Semiconducting SWCNT field-effect transistors with approximately 50-nm channel lengths are routinely produced to achieve quasi-ballistic operations for molecular transistors. The results demonstrate highly length-scaled and high-performance interconnects and transistors realized with SWCNTs.