Objective
The aim of this project is to take advantage of the unique properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for the fabrication of innovative nanoelectronic devices. The first nanodevice is a ultra-sensitive detector, designed to probe the electrical properties of individual molecules that are exposed to external perturbations, e.g. such as electric field or light. The detection scheme is based on an original approach, on the contrary to previous experiments which aimed at contacting individual organic molecules with two electrodes. With the two-electrode technique the problems have quickly appeared due to the poor control of the electrode/molecule interfaces. Here, the molecule is attached to only one electrode, a nanotube. The resistance of the nanotube is measured as a function of a gate voltage, which should be sensitive on the energy spectrum of the molecule. Low-current detection is expected to be particularly suitable for molecular electronics, since most of the molecular systems are highly resistive. This includes organic molecules, biological molecules, and semiconducting particles. Most importantly, such an approach is expected to be mostly independent on the quality of the molecule-nanotube interface, and in addition, it allows the device to be operational in higher temperature. The second proposed design of nanodevice is a non-volatile memory, which will be achieved also in one-electrode approach by combining a single nanoparticle (with diameters up to 10nm) with a carbon nanotube transistor. In the device, CNT acts as conduction channel and the charge stored in the nanoparticle behaves as a floating-gate. Charging effects will be obtained either from an atomic force microscope or directly from the nanotube. The objective will be to determine the operability of the device at room temperature and its limitation (necessary charge on floating-gate, temperature limitation).
Fields of science
Keywords
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
FP7-PEOPLE-2007-2-1-IEF
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
MC-IEF - Intra-European Fellowships (IEF)Coordinator
08193 Cerdanyola Del Valles
Spain