SBIR Phase II: High Quality Carbon Nanotubes for Radio Frequency Applications

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project can be found across the semiconductor industry with its initial market in wireless communications. Due to the extraordinary properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), applications include low noise amplifiers (LNAs), mixers, and RF power amplifiers (PAs). Looking forward, carbon nanotube transistors (CFETs) can reshape analog radio frequency electronics, enabling the higher data rates and improved capacity demanded by next generation wireless systems due to their intrinsic linearity and associated low out of band interference . CFETs are highly efficient, dissipating less unwanted power than current state of the art technologies while handling high power levels. This translates into more battery life for mobile devices with lower cooling costs. With more linear RF transistors, many billions of dollars of spending on additional base stations, larger batteries, and radio spectrum can be avoided, at great savings to consumers and industry. More speculatively, the creation of reliable grwoth techniques for CFETs and associated manufacturing processes may offer an excellent sensor platform or better ways to form on chip interconnects. The key problems being investigating of in situ growth of high performance nanotubes are applicable to the fabrication of CNT based devices for many electronic applications. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop electronic devices for radio frequency applications using carbon nanotubes (CNTs). CNTs are a one dimensional material with diameters in the nanometer range. CNTs have unique and highly desirable properties ranging from superior mobility to current carrying capability to thermal stability. Calculations show CNT amplifiers will be inherently linear with noise suppressed to the lowest possible quantum limit. These properties allow for electronic devices that will perform better than existing technologies, such as silicon and gallium arsenide. Just as importantly, the cost for making these devices will be dramatically lower due to the relatively simple method for material synthesis and device fabrication. This work will enable wafer scale arrays of high density in-situ tubes to be grown on silicon enabling the development of carbon electronic components a manner comparable to silicon devices. This work will enable cost effective wafer scale growth of devices which exploit the groundbreaking linearity that CNTs can deliver.