Air-stable n-type transistors based on assembled aligned carbon nanotube arrays and their application in complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor electronics

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are ideal candidates for beyond-silicon nano-electronics because of their high mobility and low-cost processing. Recently, assembled massively aligned CNTs have emerged as an important platform for semiconductor electronics. However, realizing sophisticated complementary nano-electronics has been challenging due to the p-type nature of carbon nanotubes in air. Fabrication of n-type behavior field effect transistors (FETs) based on assembled aligned CNT arrays is needed for advanced CNT electronics. Here in this paper, we report a scalable process to make n-type behavior FETs based on assembled aligned CNT arrays. Air-stable and high-performance n-type behavior CNT FETs are achieved with high yield by combining the atomic layer deposition dielectric and metal contact engineering. We also systematically studied the contribution of metal contacts and atomic layer deposition passivation in determining the transistor polarity. Based on these experimental results, we report the successful demonstration of complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor inverters with good performance, which paves the way for realizing the promising future of carbon nanotube nano-electronics.

Automated summary

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are ideal for nano-electronics due to their high mobility and low-cost processing, but their p-type nature in air poses challenges. This paper presents a scalable process to fabricate high-performance n-type behavior CNT FETs using atomic layer deposition and metal contact engineering. The successful demonstration of complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor inverters paves the way for promising carbon nanotube nano-electronics.