Disorder effects and electronic conductance in metallic carbon nanotubes

Abstract

Disorder effects on the density of states and electronic conduction in metallic carbon nanotubes are analyzed by a tight binding model with Gaussian bond disorder. Metallic armchair and zigzag nanotubes are considered. We obtain a conductance which becomes smaller by the factor 1/2 ~ 1/3 from that of the clean nanotube. This decrease mainly comes from lattice fluctuations of the width which is comparable to thermal fluctuations. We also find that suppression of electronic conductance around the Fermi energy due to disorder is smaller than that of the inner valence (and conduction) band states. This is a consequence of the extended nature of electronic states around the Fermi energy between the valence and conduction bands, and is a property typical of the electronic structures of metallic carbon nanotubes.