Towards Development and Characterization of Ionic Junction via Microcontact Printing

Abstract

The paper presents an evaluation of the feasibility of developing ionic surfactant coated single walled carbon nanotube (SWCNTs) (P-N) junction clusters via microcontact printing using intrinsic semi conducting SWCNTs. These SWCNTs are doped with anionic and cationic surfactant molecules respectively, thereby altering the Fermi energy levels of and its electrical properties. Two types of surfactants were used for doping the SWCNTs to develop extrinsically doped P and N type SWCNTs. Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) having Na+ positive ionic charge (anions) and Cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), having Br-negative ionic charge (cations) on its hydrophilic ends have been used to generate anionic SWCNTs (P type) and cationic SWCNTs( N-type respectively. Using, dual level patterning process, these extrinsically doped anionic and cationic semiconducting SWCNTs clusters are alternatively symmetrically patterned in a parallel array to form crossbar P-N junctions onto a standard microfabricated platform using flexible polymeric poly-dimethylsiloxane (PDMS) stamps. Ink-based transfer of the nanomaterial from the relief structures achieves parallel alignment of SWCNTs clusters. The electrical device characterization is achieved by measuring I-V characteristics from the base micro fabricated platform. Functionality of the nanodevice is demonstrated by studying the rectifying current -voltage (I-V) characteristics that shows promise towards the formation of a junction diode array, which can be used for integrating complex logic devices for high-end applications such as memory module and addressable logic. Lastly, we believe that the chemical modulation method and microcontact printing techniques will have a wide scope for development of nanomaterial-based devices.