Carbon Nanotube Inter- and Intramolecular Logic Gates

Abstract

Single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) have been used as the active channels of field effect transistors (FET). The next development step involves the integration of CNTFETs to form logic gates; the basic units of computers. For this we need to have both p- and n-type CNTFETs. However, without special treatment, the obtained CNTFETs are always p-type: the current carriers are holes and the devices are ON for negative gate bias. Here we show that n-type CNTFETs can be prepared not only by doping but also by a simple annealing of SWNT-based p-FETs in a vacuum. We use our ability to prepare both p- and n-type nanotube transistors to build the first nanotube-based logic gates: voltage inverters. Using spatially resolved doping we implemented this logic function on a single nanotube bundle.