Carbon nanotubes as potential building blocks for future nanoelectronics

We present recent experiments on carbon nanotube field-effect transistors and their characteristics and compare the performance of these devices with state-of-the-art silicon MOSFETs. By reducing the gate dielectric film thickness and working with high-k dielectric materials such as HfO2, we are able to effectively reduce the operational voltages below 1 V. The electrical characteristics obtained clearly indicate excellent device performance in both the on- and off-state wit of the nanotube transistor. On/off-current ratios of almost 104 are achieved along with a maximum transconductance of around 425 μS/μm and drive currents of 270 μA/μm at Vgs - Vth = -0.6 V. Since device parameters are not fully optimized, significant performance improvements can be expected making carbon nanotubes particularly promising as building blocks for future nanoelectronics. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.