Lab-Sponsored Research Investigates Electronic Properties of Carbon Nanotubes Published Nov. 8, 2007 By Air Force Office of Scientific Research AFOSR ARLINGTON, Va. -- An AFRL-funded research team at Stanford University is creating transistors based on carbon nanotubes, ultrathin tubes of carbon a few atoms wide that will play a prominent role in the future of electronics due to their exceptionally high electrical conductivity. The new transistors contain several ultrafine metal wires placed atop a carbon nanotube for the purpose of locally depleting electrons and creating barriers to electron flow. The subsequent measurement of electron flow across these barriers reveals important information about the nature of electronic transport in one dimension. The researchers are employing chemical vapor deposition, electron beam lithography, and atomic force microscopy to create the nanotube-based devices. They collect measurements at very low temperatures (less than two-hundredths of a degree above absolute zero). The team's research focuses on understanding the role of quantum mechanics in shaping electron flow in carbon nanotubes. Such a knowledge base will be essential in extending the capabilities of device miniaturization. In addition to allowing manufacturers to pack increasingly more switches onto a single chip, device miniaturization via carbon nanotubes may help reduce device power consumption and heat dissipation, which are critical issues for Air Force platforms ranging from manned fighter planes to autonomous drones. The research team's next step is to study the ways in which electrons react to a possible barrier in a one-dimensional wire--a topic of widespread speculation but, until now, very few experimental results. Keywords for search: transistors, carbon nanotubes, electron flow, chemical vapor deposition, electron beam lithography, atomic force microscopy, quantum mechanics.