title: Carbon nanotube network-silicon oxide non-volatile switches.
abstract: The integration of carbon nanotubes with silicon is important for their incorporation into next-generation nano-electronics. Here we demonstrate a non-volatile switch that utilizes carbon nanotube networks to electrically contact a conductive nanocrystal silicon filament in silicon dioxide. We form this device by biasing a nanotube network until it physically breaks in vacuum, creating the conductive silicon filament connected across a small nano-gap. From Raman spectroscopy, we observe coalescence of nanotubes during breakdown, which stabilizes the system to form very small gaps in the network~15 nm. We report that carbon nanotubes themselves are involved in switching the device to a high resistive state. Calculations reveal that this switching event occurs at ~600 °C, the temperature associated with the oxidation of nanotubes. Therefore, we propose that, in switching to a resistive state, the nanotube oxidizes by extracting oxygen from the substrate.
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Albert D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: 1] Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA [2] Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487, USA.
authors.forename: Paulo T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Araujo
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Runjie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Mildred S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Dresselhaus