Guiding electrical current in nanotube circuits using structural defects: a step forward in nanoelectronics

ACS Nano. 2008 Dec 23;2(12):2585-91. doi: 10.1021/nn800612d.

Abstract

Electrical current could be efficiently guided in 2D nanotube networks by introducing specific topological defects within the periodic framework. Using semiempirical transport calculations coupled with Landauer-Buttiker formalism of quantum transport in multiterminal nanoscale systems, we provide a detailed analysis of the processes governing the atomic-scale design of nanotube circuits. We found that when defects are introduced as patches in specific sites, they act as bouncing centers that reinject electrons along specific paths, via a wave reflection process. This type of defects can be incorporated while preserving the 3-fold connectivity of each carbon atom embedded within the graphitic lattice. Our findings open up a new way to explore bottom-up design, at the nanometer scale, of complex nanotube circuits which could be extended to 3D nanosystems and applied in the fabrication of nanoelectronic devices.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Electronics / instrumentation*
  • Nanotechnology / instrumentation*
  • Nanotubes, Carbon / chemistry*

Substances

  • Nanotubes, Carbon