Enhancement in Electrical Conductance of Pt Decorated Multiwalled Carbon Tubes Using Electron Beam-Induced Deposition Technique

Abstract

We propose a direct-write approach to decorate the hanging multiwalled carbon tubes (MWCNTs), at the selected sites with platinum (Pt) metal, using electron beam-induced deposition (EBID) technique. As prepared nanostructure is investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), confirming the deposition of Pt nanoclusters on tube surface. The conductance of the individual tube enhances significantly due to Pt deposition at desired locations on the tubes. The value of conductance (in terms of quanta) of the same tube is increased from 3.2 G₀ to 11.7 G₀ at zero bias after Pt deposition. This enhancement in conductance is explained in terms of change in density of states (DOS) at the Fermi level which results in charge transfer between tubes and nanoclusters. This approach can be used for the applications of tubes in nano-devices which is dependent on the distribution of metal nanostructures, nano gas sensors, and in the interconnections.

Keywords:

• EBID technique
• I–V characteristics
• lithography
• Pt nanoclusters

Acknowledgments

Authors acknowledge the support and help for the fabrication of the device, EBID technique and for electrical measurements carried out at the Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics (CEN) under Indian Nanoelectronics User's Programme (INUP) at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, which has been sponsored by Department of information Technology (DIT), Government of India. Authors would like to give special thanks to Neha Kulshrestha (Department of Physics, IIT, Powai, Mumbai) for valuable discussions.