title: First-principles phase-coherent transport in metallic nanotubes with realistic contacts.
abstract: We present first-principles calculations of phase coherent electron transport in a carbon nanotube (CNT) with realistic contacts. We focus on the zero-bias response of open metallic CNT's considering two archetypal contact geometries (end and side) and three commonly used metals as electrodes (Al, Au, and Ti). Our ab initio electrical transport calculations make, for the first time, quantitative predictions on the contact transparency and the transport properties of finite metallic CNT's. Al and Au turn out to make poor contacts while Ti is the best option of the three.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física Aplicada and Unidad Asociada UA-CSIC, Universidad de Alicante, San Vicente del Raspeig, Alicante 03690, Spain.
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Palacios
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Pérez-Jiménez
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Louis
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: SanFabián
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Vergés