High Performance N-Type Carbon Nanotube Field Effect Transistors with Chemically Doped Contacts

Abstract

Short channel (~80 nm) n-type single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) field effect transistors (FET) with potassium (K) doped source and drain regions and high-k gate dielectrics (ALD HfO2) are obtained. For nanotubes with diameter ~ 1.6 nm and bandgap ~ 0.55 eV, we obtain n-MOSFET-like devices exhibiting high on-currents due to chemically suppressed Schottky barriers at the contacts, subthreshold swing of 70mV/decade, negligible ambipolar conduction and high on/off ratios up to 10^6 at a bias voltage of 0.5V. The results compare favorably with the state-of-the-art silicon n-MOSFETs and demonstrate the potential of SWNTs for future complementary electronics. The effects of doping level on the electrical characteristics of the nanotube devices are discussed.