NER: Fabrication of Electronic Devices with Nanotube Network Conducting Channels

该研究的目的是探索新的有源电子器件架构，如场效应晶体管和新的室温制造路线。该装置采用碳纳米管随机网络作为导电通道。由于与碳纳米管相关的高电子和空穴迁移率，该结构导致高器件迁移率，优异的机械性能，以及鲁棒性和容错性。初步研究表明，该器件的性能优于其他器件架构，如有机晶体管。制备工艺的方法包括用各种药剂对纳米管进行增溶、纳米管沉积和随后的药剂去除。这种室温工艺允许将纳米管网络集成到各种表面，与标准硅制造兼容，也可以集成到塑料材料中。该设备还将允许探索一系列物理问题，例如一维和受限维度中的电子状态的性质以及二维随机网络中的渗透。这项研究将对柔性电子领域产生潜在的重大影响，可能应用于显示器、射频识别标签和可印刷集成电路等领域。这项研究将由来自不同系的研究生进行，涉及设备设计、制造和讯问。让研究生参加一个跨学科的环境和一个具有重大应用潜力的项目将产生该国急需的知识基础。

The objective of the research is to explore new active electronic device architectures, such as Field Effect Transistors and new, room temperature fabrication routes for such devices. The devices incorporate a random network of carbon nanotubes as the conducting channel. Due to the high electron and hole mobility associated with carbon nanotubes, the architecture leads to high device mobilities, excellent mechanical properties, together with robustness, and fault tolerance. Initial studies indicate that the devices have performance superior to alternative device architectures, such as organic transistors. The approach for the fabrication process includes the solubilization of nanotubes by various agents, nanotube deposition and subsequent removal of the agents. This room temperature process allows integration of nanotube networks to a variety of surfaces, is compatible with standard silicon fabrication and can also be integrated into plastic materials. The devices will also allow the exploration of a range of physics issues such as the nature of electron states in one and in restricted dimensions and percolation in a two dimensional random network. The research will have, potentially major impact in the area called flexible electronics with possible applications in areas including displays, radio frequency identification tags and printable Integrated Circuits. The research will be conducted by graduate students from different Departments, and it involves device design, fabrication and interrogation. Subjecting graduate students to an interdisciplinary environment, and to a project that has significant application potential will generate a knowledge base critically needed in the country.