SBIR Phase I: Carbon Nanotubes FET Platform for Electronic & Sensors Applications

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This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project involves the fabrication of a nanoelectronic device research module or kit for use by educational institutions and private sector researchers. The nanoelectronic devices will be used as transducer components in chemical, biological and photonic sensors. The kit will have three components: 1) packaged nanotube based field effect transistors (NTFETs); 2) a functionalization test board (FTB) for testing the devices; and, 3) a data acquisition system by which the users control the FTB. The NTFET development will require refinement of the production of reproducible nanotube array devices on 4" silicon wafers. The proposed work involves extending semiconductor manufacturing to produce 1 nm objects with the attendant challenges of imaging, measurement and process control. The project will optimize the major variables important to the uniform growth of arrays of single-wall carbon nanotubes with the electronic properties necessary for sensor transduction. The work will explore FET geometries and will develop tools and software for nanotube device characterization.The commercial application of this project is a research tool for the electronics market. The impact of the proposed work lies in its potential long-term contribution to the $300 billion electronics industry. Advances in silicon electronics have been driven by reductions in the feature size on the silicon chips. To extend the reach of Moore's Law, nanotubes offer the best path. The transition from silicon electronics to molecular electronics will be facilitated by the introduction of carbon nanotubes into hybrid architectures based on silicon substrates. Commercial availability of the NTFET kit would allow many component makers to study molecular electronic interactions and develop proprietary formulations for NTFET-based sensors. In addition, the academic community will be provided with inexpensive access to a technology with a very high barrier to entry.