Carbon nanotube-based CMOS transistors and integrated circuits

Over the last sixty years, the scaling of silicon-based complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) field-effect transistors (FETs) have promoted the rapid development of microelectronic technology. However, the development of Si CMOS technology is currently subject to serious challenges from various aspects such as physics limit, cost, and power consumption, and is becoming increasingly difficult. Material innovation is exerting an ever-greater role in the integrated circuit design. By looking for thinner semiconductor materials with higher mobility as the active layer to construct smaller and higher-performance transistors, it is possible to further stimulate transistors and integrated circuits on performance, density, power dissipation, and functions. In 1991, Iijima discovered carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Due to its excellent electrical properties and intrinsic nano-scale size, CNT has been considered by academia and industry to have great potential to replace silicon materials in the future for the extremely scaled technology nodes or novel electronic applications. This paper reviews the latest advancements in CNT-based electronics research. Finally, the challenges and pathways for nanotube transistors to transition into commercial applications are discussed.