| AVS 54th International Symposium | |
| Nanometer-scale Science and Technology | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session NS+MS-TuA |
| Session: | Characterization of Nanostructures |
| Presenter: | K.E. Hurst, National Institute of Standards and Technology |
| Authors: | K.E. Hurst, National Institute of Standards and Technology R.K. Ahrenkiel, National Renewable Energy Laboratory T. Campbell, ADA Technologies J.H. Lehman, National Institute of Standards and Technology |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
We present a new measurement technique for measuring the recombination lifetimes of carbon nanotubes called the resonant-coupled photoconductive decay (RCPCD) method.1 The carrier recombination lifetime is a fundamental property of carbon nanotubes which is typically determined by contact-based techniques or spectroscopic methods which do not readily allow characterization of bulk material properties. The measurement is based on a pump-probe technique in which an optical pump and a low frequency microwave probe are employed. RCPCD offers the first rapid, non-contact technique for routine nanometrology of carbon nanotube electronic properties. We demonstrate measurements of carrier lifetimes for multi-walled carbon nanotube and single-walled carbon nanotube thin films, where the ~30 μm thick films are deposited on a glass slide by an air-brush technique. We also consider the influence of material purity on the measurement of lifetimes in these nano-scale systems. Raman spectroscopy and UV-VIS absorption measurements provide further identification and characterization of nanotube samples to enable correlation of nanotube properties with the efficiency of charge transport in these samples. RCPCD is shown to be a fast and effective method for measuring the lifetimes of bulk carbon nanotubes, thereby overcoming present issues of routine carbon nanotube electronic nanometrology.
1R.K. Ahrenkiel, S.W. Johnston Mater. Sci. Eng. B 102 (2003) 161