Test-bed of pulsed radio frequency (RF) signal used with a diode made of carbon nanotubes (CNTs)

This paper presents testing of a CNT diode consisting of a cathode formed by CNTs and an anode placed at a distance from the CNTs. The diode is biased to a desired supply voltage below the self-turn-on voltage and an external pulsed RF signal, received by the diode, initiates the field emission from the CNTs (cathode). Then, the forward-bias current is recorded as the indication of the detected signal. The system under test includes passive elements, such as a capacitor used as a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag, in between a transmit (TX.) / receive (RX.) antenna pair. A pulse generator sends out a relatively square nanosecond pulse to the transmit antenna. The RFID tag incorporates a circuit with a diode and the current is measured with a Pearson coil. The data captured is then analyzed for testing purposes.