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 10(4) are achieved along with a maximum transconductance of around 425 muS/mum and drive currents of 270 muA/mum at V-gs - V-th = 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. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.