Crosstalk between nanotube devices: contact and channel effects

Abstract

At reduced dimensionality, Coulomb interactions play a crucial role in determining device properties. While such interactions within the same carbon nanotube have been shown to have unexpected properties, device integration and multi-nanotube devices require the consideration of inter-nanotube interactions. We present calculations of the characteristics of planar carbon nanotube transistors including interactions between semiconducting nanotubes and between semiconducting and metallic nanotubes. The results indicate that inter-tube interactions affect both the channel behavior and the contacts. For long channel devices, a separation of the order of the gate oxide thickness is necessary to eliminate inter-nanotube effects. Because of an exponential dependence of this length scale on dielectric constant, very high device densities are possible by using high-k dielectrics and embedded contacts.