Electrical conductivity of single-wall carbon nanotube films in strong electric field

Abstract

Carrier transport features in single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) films under strong electric fields (up to 105 V/cm) are presented. Application of electrical pulses of nanosecond duration allowed to minimize Joule heating and resolve intrinsic nonlinearities with the electric field. Investigations within a wide range of temperatures—4.2–300 K—indicated that carrier localization as well as tunneling through the insulating barriers between conducting regions takes place in SWCNT films. Crossover from semiconducting behavior to metallic behavior in strong electric field is described using the fluctuation induced tunneling model and assuming that the conducting regions demonstrate characteristic metallic conductivity.