Electrical Reliability Testing of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Networks

Published

May 18, 2011

Author(s)

Mark C. Strus, Ann C. Chiaramonti Debay, Robert R. Keller, Yung J. Jung, Younglae Kim

Abstract

We present test methods to investigate the electrical reliability of nanoscale lines of highly-aligned, networked, metallic/semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) fabricated through a template-based fluidic assembly process. We find that these SWCNT networks can withstand DC current densities larger than 10 MA/cm2 for several hours and in some cases several days. We observed that the failure rate, failure predictability, and total device lifetime depend on the initial resistance. Scanning electron and transmission electron microscopy suggested that fabrication variability plays a critical role in rate of failure and we offer a method of quickly screening whether networks will have sufficient performance lifetimes. We found that well-fabricated lines subjected to constant electrical stress show a linear accumulation of damage reminiscent of electromigration in metallic interconnects and we explore which underlying physical mechanisms could cause such behavior.

Citation

Nanotechnology

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

Local Download

Keywords

single walled carbon nanotube networks, films, bundles, and arrays, electrical reliability measurements, nanoscale interconnects, flexible electronics, photovoltaics, transistors, sensors

Citation

Strus, M. , Chiaramonti, A. , Keller, R. , Jung, Y. and Kim, Y. (2011), Electrical Reliability Testing of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Networks, Nanotechnology, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=907014 (Accessed December 8, 2024)