Chen Yi-Ray, Weng Cheng-I, Sun Shih-Jye
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Nanotechnology. 2008 Feb 6;19(5):055206. doi: 10.1088/0957-4484/19/05/055206. Epub 2008 Jan 14.
Molecular dynamics simulations and quantum transport theory are employed to study the temperature-dependent electrical properties of individual (12,0) zigzag and (5,5) armchair carbon nanotubes deposited on silicon substrates. The results demonstrate that the magnitude of the leakage current depends on the length of the nanotube. Furthermore, the leakage current is generated periodically along the length of the nanotube. Finally, the results indicate that given an appropriate value of the applied bias voltage, the induced current varies linearly with the temperature over specific temperature ranges. As a result, the temperature can be inversely derived from the measured current signal. Overall, the results show that the (12,0) zigzag and (5,5) armchair carbon nanotubes are suitable for temperature sensing applications over temperature ranges of 200-420 K and 300-440 K, respectively.
