Assembly of carbon nanotubes onto arrays of microfabricated test patterns for the design of nanoelectronic devices

This paper addresses some key issues to look over an efficient strategy to integrate carbon nanotube devices in electronic structures. Proper microfabricated test patterns have been designed to deposit in a controlled way single wall nanotube ropes between different couples of source and drain electrodes, providing a common back gate for current modulation. Nanotubes have been fabricated by the laser ablation technique and their placement has been guided using a self-assembly method based on a high-frequency electric field. The nanotubes have been characterized by micro-Raman spectroscopy, SEM and AFM imaging. A good electrical connection between the metallic contacts and nanotube ropes was obtained, enabling the measurement of I-V characteristics of carbon nanotube field effect transistors.