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Polyfluorene-sorted, carbon nanotube array field-effect transistors with increased current density and high on/off
Gerald J Brady1, Yongho Joo, Meng-Yin Wu
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering and ‡Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison , Madison, Wisconsin 53706, United States.
ACS Nano
|November 11, 2014
Summary
Researchers developed a new method for aligning ultra-high-purity semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). This technique significantly improves the performance of SWCNT-based field-effect transistors (FETs), paving the way for advanced electronics.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
- Electronics Engineering
Background:
- Developing high-performance single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT)-based field-effect transistors (FETs) is hindered by challenges in eliminating metallic SWCNTs and controlling their alignment.
- Existing methods struggle to achieve both high purity and controlled alignment of semiconducting SWCNTs, limiting device performance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To tailor field-effect transistors (FETs) fabricated from ultra-high-purity semiconducting SWCNTs with controlled alignment.
- To evaluate the performance metrics of these tailored FETs, including on-conductance per width and on-off ratio.
- To compare the performance against SWCNT FETs fabricated by other methods.
Main Methods:
- Utilized dose-controlled floating evaporative self-assembly to deposit aligned arrays of ultra-high-purity semiconducting SWCNTs, isolated using polyfluorene derivatives.
- Fabricated FETs using these aligned SWCNT arrays with varying channel lengths (L(ch)).
- Characterized device performance, focusing on on-conductance (G(on)) per width and on-off ratio (G(on)/G(off)).
Main Results:
- Achieved high on-conductance per width (261 μS/μm) and on-off ratio (2 × 10^5) for L(ch) = 240 nm, and (116 μS/μm) and (1 × 10^6) for L(ch) = 1 μm.
- Demonstrated significantly enhanced G(on)/G(off) (up to 1400×) and G(on) per width (30-100×) compared to other SWCNT FET fabrication methods.
- Reported an average G(on) per tube of 5.7 ± 1.4 μS at a packing density of 35 tubes/μm for short channel lengths, limited by contact resistance.
Conclusions:
- The developed method of dose-controlled floating evaporative self-assembly enables the creation of ultra-high-purity semiconducting SWCNT arrays with controlled alignment.
- These aligned SWCNT arrays lead to substantially improved performance in FETs, surpassing existing technologies.
- The findings underscore the potential of this approach for advancing next-generation semiconductor electronics.
