Room-temperature transistor based on a single carbon nanotube

Sander J. Tans, Alwin R. M. Verschueren and Cees Dekker ()
Additional contact information
Sander J. Tans: Delft University of Technology, CJ Delft
Alwin R. M. Verschueren: Delft University of Technology, CJ Delft
Cees Dekker: Delft University of Technology, CJ Delft

Nature, 1998, vol. 393, issue 6680, 49-52

Abstract: Abstract The use of individual molecules as functional electronic devices was first proposed in the 1970s (ref. 1). Since then, molecular electronics2,3 has attracted much interest, particularly because it could lead to conceptually new miniaturization strategies in the electronics and computer industry. The realization of single-molecule devices has remained challenging, largely owing to difficulties in achieving electrical contact to individual molecules. Recent advances in nanotechnology, however, have resulted in electrical measurements on single molecules4,5,6,7. Here we report the fabrication of a field-effect transistor—a three-terminal switching device—that consists of one semiconducting8,9,10 single-wall carbon nanotube11,12 connected to two metal electrodes. By applying a voltage to a gate electrode, the nanotube can be switched from a conducting to an insulating state. We have previously reported5 similar behaviour for a metallic single-wall carbon nanotube operated at extremely low temperatures. The present device, in contrast, operates at room temperature, thereby meeting an important requirement for potential practical applications. Electrical measurements on the nanotube transistor indicate that its operation characteristics can be qualitatively described by the semiclassical band-bending models currently used for traditional semiconductor devices. The fabrication of the three-terminal switching device at the level of a single molecule represents an important step towards molecular electronics.

Date: 1998
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/29954 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:393:y:1998:i:6680:d:10.1038_29954

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/29954

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().