Electronic transport through carbon nanotubes: effects of structural deformation and tube chirality

Atomistic simulations using a combination of classical force field and density-functional theory (DFT) show that carbon atoms remain essentially sp(2) coordinated in either bent tubes or tubes pushed by an atomically sharp atomic-force microscope (AFM) tip. Subsequent Green's-function-based tra...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2002-03, Vol.88 (12), p.126805-126805, Article 126805
Main Authors: Maiti, Amitesh, Svizhenko, Alexei, Anantram, M P
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Atomistic simulations using a combination of classical force field and density-functional theory (DFT) show that carbon atoms remain essentially sp(2) coordinated in either bent tubes or tubes pushed by an atomically sharp atomic-force microscope (AFM) tip. Subsequent Green's-function-based transport calculations reveal that for armchair tubes there is no significant drop in conductance, while for zigzag tubes the conductance can drop by several orders of magnitude in AFM-pushed tubes. The effect can be attributed to simple stretching of the tube under tip deformation, which opens up an energy gap at the Fermi surface.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/physrevlett.88.126805