Carbon nanotubes display either metallic or semiconducting properties. Both large, multiwalled nanotubes (MWNTs), with many concentric carbon shells, and bundles or “ropes” of aligned single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs), are complex composite conductors that incorporate many weakly coupled nanotubes that each have a different electronic structure. Here we demonstrate a simple and reliable method for selectively removing single carbon shells from MWNTs and SWNT ropes to tailor the properties of these composite nanotubes. We can remove shells of MWNTs stepwise and individually characterize the different shells. By choosing among the shells, we can convert a MWNT into either a metallic or a semiconducting conductor, as well as directly address the issue of multiple-shell transport. With SWNT ropes, similar selectivity allows us to generate entire arrays of nanoscale field-effect transistors based solely on the fraction of semiconducting SWNTs.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/292/5517/706.full.pdf

Engineering Carbon Nanotubes and Nanotube Circuits Using Electrical Breakdown

We have used aqueous dispersions of silver nanowires to prepare thin, flexible, transparent, conducting films. The nanowires are of length and diameter close to 6.5 μm and 85 nm, respectively. At low thickness, the films consist of networks but appear to become bulk-like for mean film thicknesses above ∼160 nm. These films can be very transparent with optical transmittance reaching as high as 92% for low thickness. The transmittance (550 nm) decreases with increasing thickness, consistent with an optical conductivity of 6472 S/m. The films are also very uniform; the transmittance varies spatially by typically <2%. The sheet resistance decreases with increasing thickness, falling below 1 Ω/◻ for thicknesses above 300 nm. The DC conductivity increases from 2 × 105 S/m for very thin films before saturating at 5 × 106 S/m for thicker films. Similarly, the ratio of DC to optical conductivity increases with increasing thickness from 25 for the thinnest films, saturating at ∼500 for thicknesses above ∼160 nm. We...

http://www.tara.tcd.ie/bitstream/handle/2262/64106/De%20ACS%20Nano%2009%202.pdf;sequence=1

Silver Nanowire Networks as Flexible, Transparent, Conducting Films: Extremely High DC to Optical Conductivity Ratios

Carbon nanotubes have unique properties that make them a most promising system on which to base molecular electronics. We briefly review the electrical characteristics of carbon nanotubes, and then focus on carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (CNTFETs). Procedures by which hole-transport, electron-transport and ambipolar CNTFETs can be fabricated are presented, and their electrical characteristics are discussed and compared with those of Si MOSFETs. Ways to fabricate arrays of CNTFETs are also demonstrated, and electron and hole CNTFETs are integrated to form complementary logic circuits.

Molecular Electronics with Carbon Nanotubes

Carbon Nanotube Thin Films: Fabrication, Properties, and Applications

A common misconception is that the irradiation of solids with energetic electrons and ions has exclusively detrimental effects on the properties of target materials. In addition to the well-known cases of doping of bulk semiconductors and ion beam nitriding of steels, recent experiments show that irradiation can also have beneficial effects on nanostructured systems. Electron or ion beams may serve as tools to synthesize nanoclusters and nanowires, change their morphology in a controllable manner, and tailor their mechanical, electronic, and even magnetic properties. Harnessing irradiation as a tool for modifying material properties at the nanoscale requires having the full microscopic picture of defect production and annealing in nanotargets. In this article, we review recent progress in the understanding of effects of irradiation on various zero-dimensional and one-dimensional nanoscale systems, such as semiconductor and metal nanoclusters and nanowires, nanotubes, and fullerenes. We also consider the t...

Ion and electron irradiation-induced effects in nanostructured materials

We investigate the coupling between individual tubes in a rope of single-wall carbon nanotubes using four probe resistance measurements. By introducing defects through the controlled sputtering of the rope we generate a strong nonmonotonic temperature dependence of the four terminal resistance. This behavior reflects the interplay between localization in the intentionally damaged tubes and coupling to undamaged tubes in the same rope. Using a simple model we obtain the coherence length and the coupling resistance. The coupling mechanism is argued to involve direct tunneling between tubes.

Intertube coupling in ropes of single-wall carbon nanotubes

The study of the intrinsic transport properties of carbon nanotubes suffers from the difficulties in fabricating noninvasive contacts. Here, we present a scheme for the investigation of transport phenomena in metallic single-wall carbon nanotubes by means of a special four-terminal measurement configuration. To suppress the impact of the contacts on the measured conductance in a tube, we found a combination of top and bottom contacts to the rope of single-wall nanotubes to be most appropriate. Our experimental findings demonstrate that a linear decrease of the sample resistance can be observed under these circumstances without the common increase of resistance for decreasing temperatures.

Optimized contact configuration for the study of transport phenomena in ropes of single-wall carbon nanotubes

In this letter, we describe a technique for determining the Andreev reflection probability of electrons impinging on a semiconductor–superconductor interface. A two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in an InGaAs/InP heterostructure is linked to a niobium superconductor. A point contact in the 2DEG emits ballistic electrons and detects the reflected carriers. The vast majority of the detected carriers are retroreflected holes because of our specific sample setup. We have found an Andreev reflection probability of up to 20%. The experimental results are compared with the predictions of two theoretical models.

H. Stahl

Papers

Intertube coupling in ropes of single-wall carbon nanotubes

Optimized contact configuration for the study of transport phenomena in ropes of single-wall carbon nanotubes

Direct determination of the Andreev reflection probability by means of point contact spectroscopy

Phase-coherent transport in ropes of single-wall carbon nanotubes

Investigation of the inter-tube coupling in single-wall nanotube ropes