Superior Current Carrying Capacity of Boron Nitride Encapsulated Carbon Nanotubes with Zero-Dimensional Contacts

We report fabrication and characterization of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN)-encapsulated carbon nanotube (CNT) field effect transistors, which are coupled to electrical leads via zero-dimensional contacts. Device quality is attested by the ohmic contacts and observation of Coulomb blockade with a single periodicity in small bandgap semiconducing nanotubes. Surprisingly, hBN-encapsulated CNT devices demonstrate significantly enhanced current carrying capacity; a single-walled CNT can sustain >180 μA current or, equivalently, a current density of ∼2 × 10(10) A/cm(2), which is a factor of 6-7 higher than devices supported on SiO2 substrates. Such dramatic enhancement of current carrying capacity arises from the high thermal conductivity of hBN and lower hBN-CNT interfacial thermal resistance and has implications for carbon electronic applications.