Band-to-band tunneling in carbon nanotube field-effect transistors

Abstract

The mechanism of band-to-band (BTB) tunneling in Schottky barrier carbon nanotube field effect transistors (SB-CNFET) was investigated. The temperature dependence of the device characteristics was also discussed. It was found that through dual-gated CNFET structure, tunneling currents from the conduction into the valence band of a semiconducting carbon nanotube and vice versa were disabled or enabled by changing the gate potential. It was also observed that the point where the Fermi distribution ultimately limited the gate voltage range for switching the device on or off, current flow was controlled at that point by the valence and conduction band edges.