Peter J. Burke

Luttinger liquid theory as a model of the gigahertz electrical properties of carbon nanotubes

Presents a technique to directly excite Luttinger liquid collective modes in carbon nanotubes at gigahertz frequencies. By modeling the nanotube as a nano-transmission line with distributed kinetic and magnetic inductance as well as distributed quantum and electrostatic capacitance, we calculate the complex frequency-dependent impedance for a variety of measurement geometries. Exciting voltage waves on the nano-transmission line is equivalent to directly exciting the yet-to-be observed one-dimensional plasmons, the low energy excitation of a Luttinger liquid. Our technique has already been applied to two-dimensional plasmons and should work well for one-dimensional plasmons. Tubes of length 100 microns must be grown for gigahertz resonance frequencies. Ohmic contact is not necessary with our technique; capacitive contacts can work. Our modeling has applications in potentially terahertz nanotube transistors and RF nanospintronics.

An RF circuit model for carbon nanotubes

We develop an RF circuit model for single walled carbon nanotubes for both dc and capacitively contacted geometries. By modeling the nanotube as a nanotransmission line with distributed kinetic and magnetic inductance as well as distributed quantum and electrostatic capacitance, we calculate the complex, frequency dependent impedance for a variety of measurement geometries. Exciting voltage waves on the nanotransmission line is equivalent to directly exciting the yet-to-be observed one dimensional plasmons, the low energy excitation of a Luttinger liquid.

Quantitative theory of nanowire and nanotube antenna performance

We present quantitative predictions of the performance of nanotubes and nanowires as antennas, including the radiation resistance, the input reactance and resistance, and antenna efficiency, as a function of frequency and nanotube length. Particular attention is paid to the quantum capacitance and kinetic inductance. We develop models for both far-field antenna patterns as well as near-field antenna-to-antenna coupling. In so doing, we also develop a circuit model for a transmission line made of two parallel nanotubes, which has applications for nanointerconnect technology. Finally, we derive an analog of Hallens integral equation appropriate for single-walled carbon nanotube antennas

Nanotube electronics for radiofrequency applications

Electronic devices based on carbon nanotubes are among the candidates to eventually replace silicon-based devices for logic applications. Before then, however, nanotube-based radiofrequency transistors could become competitive for high-performance analogue components such as low-noise amplifiers and power amplifiers in wireless systems. Single-walled nanotubes are well suited for use in radiofrequency transistors because they demonstrate near-ballistic electron transport and are expected to have high cut-off frequencies. To achieve the best possible performance it is necessary to use dense arrays of semiconducting nanotubes with good alignment between the nanotubes, but techniques that can economically manufacture such arrays are needed to realize this potential. Here we review progress towards nanotube electronics for radiofrequency applications in terms of device physics, circuit design and the manufacturing challenges.

Electrical Properties of 0.4 cm Long Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Centimeter scale aligned carbon nanotube arrays are grown from nanoparticle/metal catalyst pads. We find the nanotubes grow both “with” and “against the wind”. A metal underlayer provides in situ electrical contact to these long nanotubes with no post growth processing needed. Using the electrically contacted nanotubes, we study electrical transport of 0.4 cm long nanotubes. The source−drain I−V curves are quantitatively described by a classical, diffusive model. Our measurements show that the outstanding transport properties of nanotubes can be extended to the cm scale and can open the door to large scale integrated nanotube circuits with macroscopic dimensions.

High-performance semiconducting nanotube inks: progress and prospects.

While the potential for high mobility printed semiconducting nanotube inks has been clear for over a decade, a myriad of scientific and technological issues has prevented commercialization and practical use. One of the most challenging scientific problems has been to understand the relationship between the pristine, individual nanotube mobility (known to be in the 10,000 cm(2)/V·s range) and the as-deposited random network mobility (recently demonstrated in the 100 cm(2)/V·s range). An additional significant scientific hurdle has been to understand, manage, and ultimately eliminate the effects of metallic nanotubes on the network performance, specifically the on/off ratio. Additional scientific progress is important in understanding the dependence of nanotube length, diameter, and density on device performance. Finally, the development of ink formulations that are of practical use in manufacturing is of paramount importance, especially with regard to drying time and uniformity, and ultimately, the issue of scalability and cost must be addressed. Many of these issues have recently been investigated from a phenomenological point of view, and a comprehensive understanding is beginning to emerge. In this paper, we present an overview of solution-based printed carbon nanotube devices and discuss long-term technology prospects. While significant technical challenges still remain, it is clear that the prospects for the use of nanotube ink in a myriad of systems is feasible given their unmatched mobility and compatibility with heterogeneous integration into a variety of applications in printed and flexible electronics.

Nanoelectromagnetics: Circuit and Electromagnetic Properties of Carbon Nanotubes

This Review presents a discussion of the electromagnetic properties of nanoscale electrical conductors, which are quantum mechanical one-dimensional systems. Of these, carbon nanotubes are the most technologically advanced example, and are discussed mainly in this paper. The properties of such systems as transmission electron microscopy waveguides for on-chip signal propagation and also the radiation properties of such systems are discussed. This work is primarily aimed at microwave, nanometer-wave, and THz electronics. However, the use of nanotubes as antennas in the IR and optical frequency range is not precluded on first principles and remains an open research area.

Microwave Transport in Metallic Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

The dynamical conductance of electrically contacted single-walled carbon nanotubes is measured from dc to 10 GHz as a function of source-drain voltage in both the low-field and high-field limits. The ac conductance of the nanotube itself is found to be equal to the dc conductance over the frequency range studied for tubes in both the ballistic and diffusive limit. This clearly demonstrates that nanotubes can carry high-frequency currents at least as well as dc currents over a wide range of operating conditions. Although a detailed theoretical explanation is still lacking, we present a phenomenological model of the ac impedance of a carbon nanotube in the presence of scattering that is consistent with these results.

Fundamental Limits on the Mobility of Nanotube‐Based Semiconducting Inks

[∗] N. Rouhi , D. Jain , K. Zand Prof. P. J. Burke Integrated Nanosytems Research Facility Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science University of California-Irvine Irvine, CA, USA; pburke@uci.edu Carbon-nanotube-based semiconducting inks offer great promise for a variety of applications including fl exible, transparent, and printed electronics and optics. A critical drawback of such inks has been the presence of metallic nanotubes, which causes high-mobility inks to suffer from poor on/off ratios, preventing their applications in a wide variety of commercial settings. Here, we report a comprehensive study of the relationship between mobility, density, and on/off ratios of solution-based, deposited semiconducting nanotube ink used as the channel in fi eld effect transistors. A comprehensive spectrum of the density starting from less than 10 tubes μ m − 2 to the high end of more than 100 tubes μ m − 2 have been investigated. These studies indicate a quantitative trend of decreasing on/off ratio with increasing density and mobility, starting with mobilities over 90 cm 2 V − 1 s − 1 (approaching that of p-type Si MOSFETs) but with on/off ratios ∼ 10, and ending with on/off ratios > 10 5

rf resistance and inductance of massively parallel single walled carbon nanotubes: Direct, broadband measurements and near perfect 50Ω impedance matching

We report using dielectrophoresis to accumulate hundred to thousands of solubilized single walled carbon nanotubes in parallel to achieve impedance values very close to 50Ω. This allows us to clearly measure the real (resistive) and imaginary (inductive) impedance over a broad frequency range. We find a negligible to mild frequency dependent resistance for the devices and an imaginary impedance that is significantly smaller then the resistance over the range of dc to 20GHz. This clearly and unambiguously demonstrates that kinetic inductance is not the major issue facing nanotube array interconnects, when compared to the real impedance (the resistance).