Fabrication of Thin-Film Transistors Using PECVD-Grown Carbon Nanotubes and Their Application to Integrated Circuits

Abstract

ABSTRACTMedium scale integrated circuits with 108 CNT-TFTs have been fabricated using CNTs grown by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) which has the advantage of preferential growth of CNTs with semiconducting behavior in the FET current–voltage characteristics. High-speed operation with a switching time of 0.51 μs/gate, which is highest in the CNT-TFT integrated circuits to our knowledge, was demonstrated by a 53-stage ring oscillator. Characterization of CNT-TFTs using scanning probe microscopy has also been performed. The island-like structure in the electrical properties of the CNT network was observed even in a high-density CNT network in the subthreshold regime. This was explained by the decrease of the effective number of CNTs which contribute the electrical conduction.