Bundled carbon nanotubes as electronic circuit and sensing elements

Bundled multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) were successfully and repeatably manipulated by AC electrophoresis to form resistive elements between Au microelectrodes and were demonstrated to potentially serve as novel thermal and anemometrical sensor as well as simple electronic circuit elements. We have measured the temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) of these MWNT bundles and also integrated them into constant current configuration for dynamic characterization. The I-V measurements of the resulting devices revealed that their power consumption were in μW range. Besides, the frequency response of the testing devices was generally over 100 kHz in constant current mode operation. Using the same technique, bundled MWNT was manipulated between three terminal microelectrodes to form simple potential dividing device. This device was capable of dividing the input potential into 2.7:1 ratio. Based on these experimental evidences, carbon nanotube is a promising material for fabricating ultra low power consumption devices for future sensing and electronic applications. Hence, we are currently developing fast and low cost MEMS fabrication processes to incorporate carbon nanotubes as sensing elements for various types of micro sensors.