Carbon nanotube field-effect transistor with a carbon nanotube gate electrode

An ultimate scaling in the gate width in a carbon nanotube field-effect transistor (CNTFET) is demonstrated with a gate electrode which is formed by another CNT (width of ∼3 nm) with conventional nanofabrication followed by manipulations with an atomic force microscope (AFM). The transport characteristics of the CNTFET with the CNT gate show marked improvements in device performance compared to one with the global back gate. This also shows that the AFM-based manipulations can help in fabricating prototypes of novel nanoelectronic devices based on CNTs.