Single Carbon Nanotube Transistor at GHz Frequency

• Published in: Nano letters Vol. 8; no. 2; pp. 525 - 528
• Main Authors: Chaste, J, Lechner, L, Morfin, P, Fève, G, Kontos, T, Berroir, J.-M, Glattli, D. C, Happy, H, Hakonen, P, Plaçais, B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 01.02.2008
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Condensed Matter; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Crystallization - methods; Electronics; Equipment Design; Equipment Failure Analysis; Exact sciences and technology; Macromolecular Substances - chemistry; Materials science; Materials Testing; Mesoscopic Systems and Quantum Hall Effect; Microelectrodes; Microwaves; Molecular Conformation; Molecular electronics, nanoelectronics; Nanocrystalline materials; Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization; Nanotechnology - instrumentation; Nanotechnology - methods; Nanotubes; Nanotubes, Carbon - chemistry; Nanotubes, Carbon - ultrastructure; Particle Size; Physics; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Surface Properties; Transistors, Electronic; Nanotube devices; Digital simulation; Carbon nanotubes; Capacitance; Transistors; Nanostructured materials; Gates; Transconductance; Nanoelectronics
• ISSN: 1530-6984; 1530-6992
• DOI: 10.1021/nl0727361

We report on microwave operation of top-gated single carbon nanotube transistors. From transmission measurements in the 0.1−1.6 GHz range, we deduce device transconductance g m and gate−nanotube capacitance C g of micro- and nanometric devices. A large and frequency-independent g m ∼ 20 μS is observed on short devices, which meets the best dc results. The capacitance per unit gate length of 60 aF/μm is typical of top gates on a conventional oxide with ε ∼ 10. This value is a factor of 3−5 below the nanotube quantum capacitance which, according to recent simulations, favors high transit frequencies f T = g m/2πC g. For our smallest devices, we find a large f T ∼ 50 GHz with no evidence of saturation in length dependence.