Unique carbon-nanotube field-effect transistors with asymmetric source and drain contacts

We have fabricated a type of unique single-walled carbon nanotube field-effect transistor, in which the channel length is only 90 nm and aluminum and gold are used as its drain and source electrodes, respectively. The channel conductance oscillations caused by single-electron tunneling through the asymmetric barriers at the drain and source contacts are observed up to 100 K. Above 100 K, the tunneling fades away, and thermionic emission dominates the conductance at sufficiently negative gate voltages. At room temperature, the device shows diode-like characteristics with a maximum current rectification ratio of approximately 10(4).