Parylene-C passivated carbon nanotube flexible transistors

Selvapraba Selvarasah, Northeastern University
Xinghui Li, Northeastern University
Ahmed Busnaina, Northeastern University
Mehmet R. Dokmeci, Northeastern University

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Originally published in Applied Physics Letters v.97 no.15 (2010), p.153120. doi:10.1063/1.3499758

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes are extremely sensitive to the molecular species in the environment and hence require a proper passivation technique to isolate them against environmental variations for the realization of reliable nanoelectronic devices. In this paper, we demonstrate a parylene-C passivation approach for CNT thin film transistors fabricated on a flexible substrate. The CNT transistors are encapsulated with 1 and 3 μm thick parylene-C coatings, and the transistor characteristics are investigated before and after passivation. Our findings indicate that thin parylene-C films can be utilized as passivation layers for CNT transistors and this versatile technique can be readily applied for the encapsulation of CNT devices such as field effect transistors, p-n diodes, and logic circuits fabricated on flexible substrates.