AVS 49th International Symposium
    Nanotubes: Science and Applications Topical Conference Tuesday Sessions
       Session NT-TuM

Paper NT-TuM6
Modifying and Probing the Electrical Properties of Carbon Nanotube Devices using an Atomic Force Microscope

Tuesday, November 5, 2002, 10:00 am, Room C-209

Session: Nanotubes: Electronics and Field Emission
Presenter: J.-Y. Park, Cornell University
Authors: J.-Y. Park, Cornell University
Y. Yaish, Cornell University
S. Rosenblatt, Cornell University
M. Brink, Cornell University
P.L. McEuen, Cornell University
Correspondent: Click to Email
An atomic force microscope (AFM) is used to probe and modify electrical properties of nanotube devices. In one set of experiments, a metalized AFM tip in electrical contact with the nanotube is utilized as a local voltage probe. These measurements reveal the voltage distribution along a nanotube as well as the contact resistance between the nanotube and the metal electrodes. For semiconducting nanotube field effect transistors, these measurements give important information about the bending of the semiconducting bands along the length of the tube. In other experiments, electrical pulses applied to the AFM tip are used to permanently modify the electrical properties of nanotube devices. By controlling the height and duration of the pulses, electrical breaks ("cuts") or tunneling barriers ("nicks") can be created at any point along the tube. The application of these modification techniques in combination with mechanical manipulation for the creation of more advanced device geometries will also be discussed.