Bias Dependence and Electrical Breakdown of Small Diameter Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

TL;DR

This study investigates how bias voltage affects conductance and electrical breakdown in small diameter single-walled carbon nanotubes, revealing differences between normal and small band-gap semiconducting types.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the bias dependence and breakdown behavior of small diameter SWCNTs, including fabrication methods and conductance variations.

Findings

Most SWCNTs show weak gate dependence at room temperature.

Significant differences in conductance and breakdown behavior between normal and SGS SWCNTs.

Fabrication on electrode structures enables large-scale testing.

Abstract

The electronic breakdown and the bias dependence of the conductance have been investigated for a large number of catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CCVD) grown single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with very small diameters. The convenient fabrication of thousands of properly contacted SWCNTs was possible by growth on electrode structures and subsequent electroless palladium deposition. Almost all of the measured SWCNTs showed at least weak gate dependence at room temperature. Large differences in the conductance and breakdown behavior have been found for "normal" semiconducting SWCNTs and small band-gap semiconducting (SGS) SWCNTs.