Di-electrophoresis assembly and fabrication of SWCNT field-effect transistor

Abstract

In the process of fabricating nano electrical device or system based on single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT), the controllable assembly and fabrication of SWCNT field-effect transistor (SWCNT FET) is a key issue. SWCNT FET is the most basic and important component in nano electronics. After microelectrode chip of back-gate FET is designed and fabricated, di-electrophoresis technology is adopted to realize the controllable alignment and assembly of SWCNTs, based on dispersing SWCNT by sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) facilitated ultra-sonication technique and removing impurities by centrifugal technique. The experiments of SWCNTs assembly demonstrate that SWCNTs are aligned and assembled uniformly at the microelectrodes gap with the alignment density nearly proportional to di-electrophoresis duration and solution concentration. After the processes of rinsing, drying and improving, metallic SWCNTs among the assembled SWCNTs are burned out and residual SDS is removed, and perfect field-effect performance of SWCNT FET is eventually obtained. © 2009 Science in China Press and Springer Berlin Heidelberg.