Nanotechnology: A Gentle Introduction to the Next Big Idea

Carbon Nanotubes

The carbon nanotube structure has already made its appearance several times because it represents an entirely new form of matter. Single-walled nanotubes can be either semiconductors or metallic. Nanotubes are also very stiff and very stable and can be built with their length exceeding thickness thousands of times.

Nanotubes can, however, exhibit even more interesting behavior. Scientists such as Cees Dekker in Delft, Paul McEuen at Cornell, Phaedon Avouris at IBM, and Charles Lieber at Harvard have demonstrated that single nanotubes can actually act as transistors. Pairs of nanotubes, or crossed nanotubes, have been shown to work as logic structures. These experiments constitute a proof of principle that nanotube logic, at an ...