Sources of Hysteresis in Carbon Nanotube Field‐Effect Transistors and Their Elimination Via Methylsiloxane Encapsulants and Optimized Growth Procedures

The origins of gate-induced hysteresis in carbon nanotube field-effect transistors are explained and techniques to eliminate this hysteresis with encapsulating layers of methylsiloxane and modified processes for nanotube growth are reported. A combined experimental and theoretical analysis of the dependence of hysteresis on the gate voltage sweep-rate reveals the locations, types, and densities of defects that contribute to hysteresis. Devices with designs that eliminate these defects exhibit more than ten times reduction in hysteresis compared to conventional layouts. Demonstrations in individual transistors that use both networks and arrays of nanotubes, and in simple logic gates built with these devices, illustrate the utility of the proposed approaches.

[1]  Richard Martel,et al.  The Role of the Oxygen/Water Redox Couple in Suppressing Electron Conduction in Field‐Effect Transistors , 2009 .

[2]  H. Dai,et al.  Growth of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes from Discrete Catalytic Nanoparticles of Various Sizes , 2001 .

[3]  A.M. Davis,et al.  Microelectronic circuits , 1983, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[4]  Ophir Vermesh,et al.  Hysteresis caused by water molecules in carbon nanotube field-effect transistors , 2003 .

[5]  Eric Pop,et al.  Reduction of hysteresis for carbon nanotube mobility measurements using pulsed characterization , 2009, Nanotechnology.

[6]  L. Skuja.  Optically active oxygen-deficiency-related centers in amorphous silicon dioxide , 1998 .

[7]  E. Pop,et al.  Thermal conductance of an individual single-wall carbon nanotube above room temperature. , 2005, Nano letters.

[8]  T. Ebbesen,et al.  Exceptionally high Young's modulus observed for individual carbon nanotubes , 1996, Nature.

[9]  L. Durrer,et al.  SWNT Growth by LPCVD on Ferritin-Based Iron Catalyst Nanoparticles Towards CNT Sensors , 2007, TRANSDUCERS 2007 - 2007 International Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems Conference.

[10]  Michael S. Fuhrer,et al.  High-Mobility Nanotube Transistor Memory , 2002 .

[11]  Hui Guo,et al.  Volatile firms, stable economy , 2004 .

[12]  S. A. McGill,et al.  High-performance, hysteresis-free carbon nanotube field-effect transistors via directed assembly , 2006 .

[13]  John A Rogers,et al.  Organic nanodielectrics for low voltage carbon nanotube thin film transistors and complementary logic gates. , 2005, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[14]  Gong Gu,et al.  Reversible memory effects and acceptor states in pentacene-based organic thin-film transistors , 2007 .

[15]  J. Robertson,et al.  Hysteresis suppression in self-assembled single-wall nanotube field effect transistors , 2008 .

[16]  Phaedon Avouris,et al.  The role of metal-nanotube contact in the performance of carbon nanotube field-effect transistors. , 2005, Nano letters.

[17]  B. El-Kareh.  Fundamentals of Semiconductor Processing Technology , 1994 .

[18]  H. Hongo,et al.  Relationship between carbon nanotube density and hysteresis characteristics of carbon nanotube random network-channel field effect transistors , 2010 .

[19]  R. Rosenfeld.  Nature , 2009, Otolaryngology--head and neck surgery : official journal of American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

[20]  J. Rogers,et al.  Guided growth of large-scale, horizontally aligned arrays of single-walled carbon nanotubes and their use in thin-film transistors. , 2005, Small.

[21]  Chang Liu,et al.  Metal-catalyst-free growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes. , 2009, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[22]  Jinhee Kim,et al.  Origin of gate hysteresis in carbon nanotube field-effect transistors , 2007 .

[23]  Gate capacitance coupling of singled-walled carbon nanotube thin-film transistors , 2006, cond-mat/0612012.

[24]  Andrea L. Lacaita,et al.  Separation of electron and hole traps by transient current analysis , 1999 .

[25]  Patrick M. Lenahan,et al.  Hole traps and trivalent silicon centers in metal/oxide/silicon devices , 1984 .

[26]  Muhammad A. Alam,et al.  SILC as a measure of trap generation and predictor of T/sub BD/ in ultrathin oxides , 2002 .

[27]  R. Wallace,et al.  High-κ gate dielectrics: Current status and materials properties considerations , 2001 .

[28]  S. Bauer,et al.  Current versus gate voltage hysteresis in organic field effect transistors , 2009 .

[29]  J. Maldonado,et al.  Generation and annealing of defects in silicon dioxide , 1987 .

[30]  Richard Martel,et al.  Probing charge transfer at surfaces using graphene transistors. , 2011, Nano letters.

[31]  M. Radosavljevic,et al.  Nonvolatile Molecular Memory Elements Based on Ambipolar Nanotube Field Effect Transistors , 2002 .

[32]  Xinqiao Jia,et al.  Buried interface modification using supercritical carbon dioxide , 2002 .

[33]  D. Pribat,et al.  Thin-Film Transistors and Circuits Based on Carbon Nanotubes , 2012, Journal of Display Technology.

[34]  L. T. Zhuravlev.  The surface chemistry of amorphous silica. Zhuravlev model , 2000 .

[35]  J. Rogers,et al.  Ultrathin Films of Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotubes for Electronics and Sensors: A Review of Fundamental and Applied Aspects , 2009 .

[36]  J. Rogers,et al.  High-performance electronics using dense, perfectly aligned arrays of single-walled carbon nanotubes. , 2007, Nature nanotechnology.

[37]  D. Pribat,et al.  Carbon nanotubes based transistors as gas sensors: State of the art and critical review , 2009 .

[38]  Ji-Yong Park,et al.  Band structure, phonon scattering, and the performance limit of single-walled carbon nanotube transistors. , 2005, Physical review letters.

[39]  John A Rogers,et al.  High-frequency performance of submicrometer transistors that use aligned arrays of single-walled carbon nanotubes. , 2009, Nano letters.

[40]  H. Klauk,et al.  Highly reliable carbon nanotube transistors with patterned gates and molecular gate dielectric. , 2009, Nano letters.

[41]  Mark S. Lundstrom,et al.  High-κ dielectrics for advanced carbon-nanotube transistors and logic gates , 2002 .

[42]  H. Klauk,et al.  High-performance carbon nanotube field effect transistors with a thin gate dielectric based on a self-assembled monolayer. , 2007, Nano letters.

[43]  Alfred B. Anderson,et al.  Charge Transfer Equilibria Between Diamond and an Aqueous Oxygen Electrochemical Redox Couple , 2007, Science.

[44]  J. Gilman,et al.  Nanotechnology , 2001 .

[45]  M. Shim,et al.  Atomic layer deposited Al2O3 for gate dielectric and passivation layer of single-walled carbon nanotube transistors , 2007 .