Integrated circuits based on aligned nanotubes
Techniques, apparatus and systems are described for wafer-scale processing of aligned nanotube devices and integrated circuits. In one aspect, a method can include growing aligned nanotubes on at least one of a wafer-scale quartz substrate or a wafer-scale sapphire substrate. The method can include transferring the grown aligned nanotubes onto a target substrate. Also, the method can include fabricating at least one device based on the transferred nanotubes.
1. A method comprising:
growing aligned nanotubes on at least one of a wafer-scale quartz substrate or a wafer-scale sapphire substrate;
transferring the grown aligned nanotubes onto a target substrate; and
fabricating at least one device based on the transferred nanotubes;
wherein growing the aligned nanotubes on the at least one of a wafer-scale quartz substrate or a wafer-scale sapphire substrate is carried out with a temperature ramping rate of less than one ° C. per minute but greater than zero ° C. per minute near a quartz phase transition temperature to avoid breakage of quartz wafer.
2. A method of comprising:
growing aligned nanotubes on at least one of a wafer-scale quartz substrate or a wafer-scale sapphire substrate;
transferring the grown aligned nanotubes onto a target substrate; and
fabricating at least one device based on the transferred nanotubes;
wherein the transferring comprises:
coating the aligned nanotubes with a film;
peeling off the film together with aligned nanotubes using a thermal tape to obtain a composite of the nanotubes and the film;
pressing the composite of the nanotubes and the film against the target substrate;
removing the thermal tape by heating up the target substrate; and
removing the film to leave the nanotubes on the target substrate.
3. The method of claim 2 , comprising:
stacking multiple transfers of nanotubes to increase tube density comprising:
stacking multiple composites of the nanotubes and the film on top of each other and over the target substrate.
4. The method of claim 3 , comprising:
etching the stacked composites together to form a network of the aligned nanotubes on the target substrate.
5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the film comprises at last one of a metal film or a polymer film.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the metal film comprises at least one of aluminum or copper.
7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the polymer film comprises Poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA).
8. The method of claim 2 , wherein the fabricating comprises fabricating submicron back-gated nanotube transistors on the transferred nanotubes with SiO 2 as a gate dielectric and Si as a back-gate at a wafer-scale.
9. The method of claim 2 , wherein the fabricating comprises fabricating multiple wafer-scale devices comprising at least one of back-gated transistors, top-gated transistors, CMOS inverters, CMOS NOR logic gates, CMOS NAND logic gates, or ring oscillators.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fabricating comprises fabricating submicron back-gated nanotube transistors on the transferred nanotubes with SiO 2 as a gate dielectric and Si as a back-gate at a wafer-scale.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fabricating comprises fabricating multiple wafer-scale devices comprising at least one of back-gated transistors, top-gated transistors, CMOS inverters, CMOS NOR logic gates, CMOS NAND logic gates, or ring oscillators.