Scanning probe microscopy of individual carbon nanotube quantum devices

Abstract

Since the discovery of carbon nanotubes, considerable insight into their electronic properties has been gained by electrical transport characterization of individual nanotube devices. At the same time, both experimental and theoretical investigations found that many of the phenomena observed in transport studies of these devices are not due to bulk properties of nanotubes, but depend instead on local atomic-scale details including defects and impurities within the nanotube itself and interfaces between the nanotube and microfabricated electrodes. This prompted application of a number of scanning probe microscopies (SPM), where local probes are used to both stimulate the nanotube and its response to localized electrostatic potentials. In this chapter, we review the state of the art in several methods of SPM, including scanning gate microscopy (SGM), electrostatic force microscopy (EFM), and current-sensitive and thermal SPM, as they are applied to study physical phenomena in carbon nanotube devices at both room and low temperatures. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.