High-field electrical transport and breakdown behavior of double-walled carbon nanotube field-effect transistors

Double-walled carbon nanotube (DWCNT) field-effect transistors have been fabricated, and their high-field transport and breakdown behavior investigated, both at room temperature and temperatures down to 4.2 K. In some cases controlled shell-by-shell breakdown of the DWCNT is realized, and field-effect measurements before and after breakdown reveal the nature of the two shells of the DWCNT and their relationship to the field-effect characteristics of the device. The breakdown of the DWCNT is found typically to occur within a few ms, opening up a gap of typically a few tens of nanometers.