This article presents an overview of the “Nanolith” parallel electron-beam (e-beam) lithography approach. The e-beam writing head consists of an array of microguns independently driven by an active matrix complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor circuit. At the heart of each microgun is a field-emission microcathode comprised of an extraction gate and vertical carbon nanotube emitter, whose mutual alignment is critical in order to achieve highly focused electron beams. Thus, in this work, a single-mask, self-aligned technique is developed to pattern the extraction gate, insulator, and nanotubes in the microcathode. The microcathode examined here (150×150 gates, 2 μm gate diameter, with multiple nanotubes per gate) exhibited a peak current of 10.5 μA at 48 V when operated with a duty cycle of 0.5%. The self-aligned process was extended to demonstrate the fabrication of single nanotube-based microcathodes with submicron gates.
We investigate the high-frequency operation of a percolation field effect transistor to monitor microwave excited single trapped charge. Readout is accomplished by measuring the effect of the polarization field associated with the oscillating charge on the AC signal generated in the channel due to charge pumping. This approach is sensitive to the relative phase between the polarization field and the pumped current, which is different from the conventional approach relying on the amplitude only. Therefore, despite the very small influence of the single oscillating trapped electron, a large signal can be detected. Experimental results show large improvement in both signal-to-noise ratio and measurement bandwidth.
We report on the transport characteristics of individual multiwalled carbon nanotube/nanofibers (MWCNTs) grown by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). The measurements were performed on individual MWCNT nanobridges suspended by sputtered Nb contacts. Temperature dependent measurements of conductance revealed that the conductance is dominated by a contribution from thermally activated carriers. High-field measurements show that the PECVD grown MWCNTs are able to carry high current densities (∼108 A/cm2) and after reaching a critical limit, break down in segments of nanotube shells while still being electrically stable. The high-density current transport and reliability make PECVD grown MWCNTs good candidates for applications as field emission cathodes and nanoelectronic interconnects.
Most experts agree that it is too early to say how quantum computers will eventually be built, and several nanoscale solid-state schemes are being implemented in a range of materials. Nanofabricated quantum dots can be made in designer configurations, with established technology for controlling interactions and for reading out results. Epitaxial quantum dots can be grown in vertical arrays in semiconductors, and ultrafast optical techniques are available for controlling and measuring their excitations. Single-walled carbon nanotubes can be used for molecular self-assembly of endohedral fullerenes, which can embody quantum information in the electron spin. The challenges of individual addressing in such tiny structures could rapidly become intractable with increasing numbers of qubits, but these schemes are amenable to global addressing methods for computation.
We have investigated the behavior of a laterally confined quantum dot in close proximity to a one-dimensional channel in a separate electrical circuit. When this channel is biased in the tunneling regime the resistance is very sensitive to electric fields, and therefore is sensitive to the potential variations on the dot when it is showing Coulomb blockade oscillations. This effect can be calibrated directly, allowing the Coulomb charging energy to be measured. We also found the activation energy of transport through the dot is much lower than expected.
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