Current Transport Modeling of Carbon Nanotubes: Concepts, Analysis, and Design

The purpose of this book is to develop a complete current transport model for carbon nanotube field effect transistors (CNT-FETs), applicable in the analysis and design of integrated circuits. The model is derived by investigating the electronic structure of carbon nanotubes and by using the basic laws of electrostatics in a field effect transistor. By describing the carrier concentration and charge distribution in carbon nanotubes, analytical expressions for the carbon nanotube potential are derived and used to obtain current transport equations for a CNT-FET. Threshold and saturation voltages expressions are each derived in the process and I-V characteristics for CNT-FETs are calculated using different combinations of chiral vectors. The voltage transfer characteristics of basic logic circuits based on complementary CNT-FETs are also studied. A small-signal radio frequency (rf) model is developed and it is shown to have cut-off frequencies in the upper GHz range. Finally, due to the rapid growth of carbon nanotubes as bio- and chemical sensing devices, possible methods to interpret and analyze CNT-FETs when utilized as biosensors are also presented.