An Integrated Logic Circuit Assembled on a Single Carbon Nanotube

TLDR

Single-walled carbon nanotubes exhibit excellent electrical properties, such as ballistic transport over several hundred nanometers at room temperature. The study aims to fabricate integrated circuits on SWCNTs to investigate their high‑frequency AC capabilities. A five‑stage ring oscillator was constructed using 12 FETs aligned along a single carbon nanotube, employing a CMOS‑like architecture by tuning gate work functions of p‑ and n‑type devices. The resulting FETs demonstrate DC performance comparable to state‑of‑the‑art silicon devices.

Abstract

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) have been shown to exhibit excellent electrical properties, such as ballistic transport over several hundred nanometers at room temperature. Field-effect transistors (FETs) made from individual tubes show dc performance specifications rivaling those of state-of-the-art silicon devices. An important next step is the fabrication of integrated circuits on SWCNTs to study the high-frequency ac capabilities of SWCNTs. We built a five-stage ring oscillator that comprises, in total, 12 FETs side by side along the length of an individual carbon nanotube. A complementary metal-oxide semiconductor-type architecture was achieved by adjusting the gate work functions of the individual p-type and n-type FETs used.