Empirical transport model of strained CNT transistors used for sensor applications

Journal of Computational Electronics volume 15, pages 881–890 (2016)Cite this article

Abstract

We present an empirical model for the near-ballistic transport in carbon nanotube (CNT) transistors used as strain sensors. This model describes the intrinsic effect of strain on the transport in CNTs by taking into account phonon scattering and thermally activated charge carriers. As this model relies on a semiempirical description of the electronic bands, different levels of electronic structure calculations can be used as input. The results show that the electronic structure of strained single-walled CNTs with a radius larger than 0.7 nm can be described by a fully analytical model in the sensing regime. For CNTs with smaller diameter, parameterized data from electronic structure calculations can be used for the model. Depending on the type of CNTs, the conductance can vary by several orders of magnitude when strain is applied, which is consistent with the current literature. Further, we demonstrate the tuning of the sensor by an external gate which allows shifting the signal amplitude. These parameters have to be balanced to get good sensing properties. The impact of (semi-)metallic CNTs on the sensor performance is evaluated, too. Metallic CNTs have to be avoided in order to construct working sensing devices. Due to its basically analytical nature, the transport model can be evolved towards a compact model for circuit simulations.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The parameters for density functional calculations are identical to those published in [4].

  2. 2.

    This fact seems unlikely for that symmetry, but already the Tight binding zone folding approach predicts a band minimum for chiral CNTs, which is not at the Gamma point.

  3. 3.

    Depending on the CNT length, the transport regime alters from the ballistic to the diffusive regime. These cases are all covered by this model. In the limiting case of short CNTs, the transport is ballistic. Thus, the transport regime can be called near-ballistic.

  4. 4.

    The scaling relation can be obtained by Fermi’s golden rule (transmission rate scales with the final states’ DOS) and the scaling of the density of states, which scales with \(\tau \sim 1/v\).

  5. 5.

    The off-current is underestimated as band-to-band-tunneling is not included in our model. The argumentation is not affected by this.

  6. 6.

    Depending on the experiment, one uses approximately 100–1000 CNTs instead of a single one.

  7. 7.

    This limit is equivalent to the reliability limit of a compact model without BTBT in [13, p. 47] for the (13,0)-CNT. The (13,0)-CNT has a similar band gap like the (8,4)-CNT.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding by the German Research Foundation (DFG) through the DFG Research Unit 1713. We also acknowledge the scientific support by the group of professor Michael Schreiber.

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Affiliations

  1. Technische Universität Chemnitz, Center for Microtechnologies, Reichenhainer Straße 70, 09126, Chemnitz, Germany

    Christian Wagner & Thomas Gessner

  2. Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nano Systems (ENAS), Techologiecampus 3, 09126, Chemnitz, Germany

    Jörg Schuster & Thomas Gessner

  3. Dresden Center for Computational Materials Science (DCCMS), Dresden, TU, Germany

    Jörg Schuster

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  1. Christian Wagner
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Correspondence to Christian Wagner.

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Wagner, C., Schuster, J. & Gessner, T. Empirical transport model of strained CNT transistors used for sensor applications. J Comput Electron 15, 881–890 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10825-016-0823-4

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Keywords

  • Carbon nanotubes
  • Density functional theory
  • Nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS)
  • Strain sensor
  • Empiric modeling
  • Near-ballistic transport