Abstract
The one-dimensional structure of carbon nanotubes1 leads to a variety of remarkable optical2 and electrical3 properties that could be used to develop novel devices4. Recently, the electrical conductance of nanotubes has been shown to decrease under optically induced heating by an amount proportional to the temperature change5. Here, we show that this decrease is also proportional to the initial nanotube conductance, and make use of this effect to develop a new electrical characterization tool for nanotubes. By scanning the focal spot of a laser across the surface of a device through which current is simultaneously measured, we can construct spatially resolved conductance images of both single and arrayed nanotube transistors. We can also directly image the gate control of these devices. Our results establish photothermal current microscopy as an important addition to the existing suite of characterization techniques for carbon nanotubes and other linear nanostructures.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank N. M. Gabor and P. L. McEuen for helpful discussions. This work was supported by a grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (FA9550-07-1-0338) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER grant (DMR-0748530). Sample fabrication was performed at the Cornell Nano-Scale Science and Technology Facility as well as at the Harvard Center for Nanoscale Systems' Nanofabrication Facility.
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A.W.T and J.P conceived the experiments, J.P designed the experimental apparatus and A.W.T performed the experiments and analysed the data with J.P. A.W.T., H.K. and L.A.K.D. fabricated the devices, and L.H.H. aided with the experiments. A.W.T. and J.P. co-wrote the paper. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.
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Tsen, A., Donev, L., Kurt, H. et al. Imaging the electrical conductance of individual carbon nanotubes with photothermal current microscopy. Nature Nanotech 4, 108–113 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2008.363
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2008.363
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