Electrical Transport Studies on Functionalized Carbon Nanotube Devices and Thin-Films

碳纳米管是纳米电子材料中的一员，这些材料在世界各地的学术，政府和工业实验室中推动了前所未有的研究活动。这项工作的主要动机是寻找新的纳米电子器件范例。该研究计划在此背景下进行，旨在进一步推进单壁碳纳米管（SWNT）的物理和化学。将研究纳米管研究的三个快速增长领域：1）中红外（Mid-IR）的光学电导率; 2）用于制造单动力学电子源的带到带隧穿器件; 3）使用功能化SWNT场效应器件解决单个催化反应事件的化学传感器。对于这些项目，新的纳米器件将使用在申请人的实验室开发的工艺结合从微电子学借来的其他技术制造。目标1旨在了解和控制纳米管薄膜的巨大中红外活性。它的目标是在这个光谱区域中由于连续带内吸收带和离散声子态之间的量子干涉而存在的法诺共振的具体项目。这项工作将探索共价键引起的晶格无序的影响，并将寻找调制连续带和放大Fano带的方法，这对THz电子学和通信具有潜在的意义。目标2是测试在单个纳米管器件中使用带-带隧穿的载流子的带通能量过滤的原理。我们将验证的假设，一个有效的冷却的电子分布可以实现在双栅极纳米管器件。这部分研究的目标是长期可交付成果，例如以较低能量耗散运行的逻辑器件和光源，以及能够在室温下产生单动力学电子束的新电子场发射源，对先进的光谱仪和显微镜具有潜在的高度兴趣。目的3是继续研究共价功能化单壁碳纳米管的分子传感器的性能。不同的化学基团将被用作共价桥来感测在晶体管配置中附接到单壁碳纳米管的活性催化位点。可交付成果是一个单一催化事件的检测器，用于研究多相催化。这些项目是多学科的，并融合了从表面和界面化学，材料，纳米科学，固态化学和物理学借来的概念。该计划具有高度创新性，将作为主要的培训平台，为电子材料和器件原理和制造领域培养高素质的人才。

The carbon nanotube is among a short list of nanoelectronic materials that have fuelled an unprecedented level of research activity in academic, government and industrial labs around the world. The work is mainly motivated by the search for new nanodevice paradigms for electronics. This research program takes place in this context and aims to advance further the physics and chemistry of the single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT). Three fast growing areas of nanotube research will be researched: 1) Optical conductivity in the Mid-infrared (Mid-IR); 2) Band-to-band tunnelling devices for making mono-kinetic electron sources; 3) Chemical sensors for resolving single catalytic reaction events using functionalized SWNT field-effect devices. For these projects, new nanodevices will be fabricated using processes developed in the lab of the applicant combined with other techniques borrowed from microelectronics.Objective 1 aims at understanding and controlling the huge Mid-IR activity of nanotube thin-films. It targets specific projects about the presence of Fano resonances in this spectral region due to a quantum interference between the continuum intra-band absorption band and discrete phonon states. This work will explore the influence of lattice disorder induced by covalent bonding and will search for ways to modulate the continuum band and amplify the Fano bands, which is of potential interest for THz electronics and communication. Objective 2 is to test the principles of band-pass energy filtering of carriers using band-to-band tunnelling in individual nanotube devices. We will verify the hypothesis that an effective cooling of the electron distribution can be achieved in a dual gate nanotube device. This part of the research targets deliverables in the long term, such as logic devices and light sources operating with lower energy dissipation, as well as new electron field-emission sources capable of producing at room temperature intense beams of mono-kinetic electrons, with potentially high interest for advancing spectrometers and microscopes. Objective 3 concerns a continuing investigation on the properties of covalently functionalized SWNTs for molecular sensors. Different chemical groups will be used as covalent bridges to sense active catalytic sites attached to the SWNT in a transistor configuration. The deliverable is a detector of single catalytic events to study heterogeneous catalysis. These projects are multidisciplinary and blend concepts borrowed from surface and interface chemistry, materials, nanoscience, and solid-state chemistry and physics. The program is highly innovative and will serve as the main training platform to develop highly qualified personal for the area of electronic materials and of device principles and fabrication.