Schottky barrier behavior of metallic multi-wall carbon nanotube-on-metal systems

The integration of carbon nanotubes (CNT) into state-of-the-art microelectronic systems as interconnects has thus far proven to be difficult from a processing standpoint. Minimizing contact resistance between the macro-scale metal contact and nano-scale tube continues to be a barrier for the implementation of CNTs into silicon-based technology. This work demonstrates fundamental electrical measurements of side-contacted carbon nanotubes showing Schottky barrier (SB) characteristics in metallic multi-wall nanotube (MWNT) systems. The measurement and insight provided here prove useful in understanding interfacial effects of CNTs and enable us to develop useful methods for integrating these structures into interconnect designs.