A multiple transistor differential amplifier is implemented on a single graphene nanoribbon. differential amplifier field effect transistors are formed on the graphene nanoribbon from a first group of electrical conductors in contact with the graphene nanoribbon and a second group of electrical conductors insulated from, but exerting electric fields on, the graphene nanoribbon thereby forming the gates of the field effect transistors. A transistor in one portion of the differential amplifier and a transistor in another portion of the differential amplifier are responsive to an incoming electrical signal. A current source, also formed on the graphene nanoribbon, is connected with the differential amplifier, and the current source and the differential amplifier operating together generate an outgoing signal responsive to the incoming electrical signal.
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1. A multiple transistor differential amplifier implemented on a single graphene nanoribbon sensor, the differential amplifier comprising:
a first plurality of electrical conductors, each conductor configured to form an electrical contact at a separate portion of a single graphene nanoribbon;
a second plurality of electrical conductors, each conductor separated from the graphene nanoribbon by an electrically insulating material so that each of the second plurality of electrical conductors exerts an electric field on the graphene nanoribbon sufficient to form a gate of a field effect transistor;
a current source formed in a first section of the graphene nanoribbon of at least one of the electrical contacts and at least one of the gates;
a differential amplifier formed in a second section of the graphene nanoribbon of at least one of the electrical contacts and at least one of the gates, and connected with the current source;
at least a first portion of the differential amplifier comprising a first graphene nanoribbon transistor electrically responsive to an incoming electrical signal presented to the first graphene nanoribbon transistor; and
at least a second portion of the differential amplifier comprising a first graphene nanoribbon transistor electrically responsive to the incoming electrical signal;
wherein the differential amplifier and current source together operate as a differential amplifier configured to generate an outgoing signal responsive to the incoming electrical signal.
5. A method for forming a multiple transistor differential amplifier on a single graphene nanoribbon sensor, the method comprising:
forming a first plurality of electrical conductors on a single graphene nanoribbon, each conductor configured to form an electrical contact at a separate portion of the graphene nanoribbon;
forming a second plurality of electrical conductors, each conductor being separated from the graphene nanoribbon by an electrically insulating material so that each of the second plurality of electrical conductors exerts an electric field on the graphene nanoribbon sufficient to form a gate of a field effect transistor;
forming a current source in a first section of the graphene nanoribbon wherein the current source comprises least one of the electrical contacts and at least one of the gates; and
forming a differential amplifier formed in a second section of the graphene nanoribbon wherein the differential amplifier comprises at least one of the electrical contacts and at least one of the gates, and the differential amplifier is connected with the current source,
wherein at least a first portion of the differential amplifier comprising a first graphene nanoribbon transistor is electrically responsive to a incoming electrical signal presented to the first graphene nanoribbon transistor,
wherein at least a second portion of the differential amplifier comprising a first graphene nanoribbon transistor electrically is responsive to the incoming electrical signal, and
wherein the differential amplifier and current source together operate as a differential amplifier configured to generate an outgoing signal responsive to the incoming electrical signal.
9. An optically interconnected graphene nanoribbon electronic system, the system comprising:
a first plurality of electrical conductors, each conductor configured to form an electrical contact at a separate portion of a single graphene nanoribbon;
a second plurality of electrical conductors, each conductor separated from the graphene nanoribbon by an electrically insulating material so that each of the second plurality of electrical conductors exerts an electric field on the graphene nanoribbon sufficient to form a gate of a first field effect transistor in a first portion of the graphene nanoribbon;
a first graphene nanoribbon sensor in a second portion of the graphene nanoribbon, the graphene nanoribbon sensor electrically responsive to an incoming optical stimulus presented to the first graphene nanoribbon sensor;
a third plurality of electrical conductors, each conductor configured to form an electrical contact at a separate portion of the graphene nanoribbon;
a fourth plurality of electrical conductors, each conductor separated from the graphene nanoribbon by an electrically insulating material so that each of the second plurality of electrical conductors exerts an electric field on the graphene nanoribbon sufficient to form a gate of a second field effect transistor in a second portion of the graphene nanoribbon;
a graphene nanoribbon light emission element in the second portion of the graphene nanoribbon, the graphene nanoribbon light emission element responsive to electrical signals from the second field effect transistor;
wherein the graphene nanoribbon implements a first field effect transistor electrical circuit and a second field effect transistor electrical circuit; and
wherein the first field effect transistor electrical circuit provides a first optical signal to the second field effect transistor electrical circuit.
2. The differential amplifier of
3. The differential amplifier of
4. The differential amplifier of
6. The method of
7. The method of
8. The method of
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This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/033,212, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,838,809, filed on Feb. 19, 2008 and issued on Nov. 23, 2010, and pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §119(e), claiming benefit of priority from provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/901,878, filed Feb. 17, 2007, the contents of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to nanotechnology, and in particular, to differential amplifiers and associated circuits created from carbon nanotubes, graphene nanoribbons and other related materials, and the associated use and synergies of these with carbon nanotube sensors.
2. Background of the Invention
Since Surnio Iijima's discovery of (multiwall) carbon nanotubes in 1991, which is based on the Buckminsterfullerene (C60) by Richard Smalley and team, the subsequent 1993 discoveries of single-wall carbon nanotubes by a number of separate research groups, and the first studies of the electrical properties of these, carbon lattices have been rapidly risen to a position to form a new platform for electronics in a manner that gracefully inherits the accumulated quantum theory and design conceptualizations of the now well-entrenched semiconductor dogmas and methodologies. Although other types of molecular electronic materials, substrates, and methods await study and development, carbon nanotube electronics has captured considerable funding support and scientific research attention. Further, in being carbon-based, there is the potential for future leverage of carbon-based electronics in deep and profound ways with carbon-based organic and bioorganic chemical processes.
Features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
In accordance with an embodiment, small-signal and other circuit design techniques may be realized by graphene nanoribbon field-effect transistors to create analog electronics for analog signal handling, analog signal processing, and conversions between analog signals and digital signals. As the graphene nanoribbon field-effect transistors exist and operate at nanoscale, they can be readily collocated or integrated into graphene nanoribbon sensing and transducing systems. Such collocation and integration is at, or adequately near, nanoscale.
These and other embodiments will also become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the embodiments having reference to the attached figures, the invention not being limited to any particular embodiment disclosed.
The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon consideration of the following description of preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing figures.
In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawing figures which form a part hereof, and which show by way of illustration specific embodiments of the invention. It is to be understood by those of ordinary skill in this technological field that other embodiments may be utilized, and structural, electrical, as well as procedural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or similar parts.
Contemporary carbon nanotube (and graphene) electronics has provided both N-channel and P-channel field-effect transistors with promises of other future junction, tunneling, magnetic, and spintronic active devices. Carbon nanotube structures are also known for light emitting structures, nanoscale electromechanical transducers, nanoscale electromechanical relays, light sensing structures, and a wide variety of nanoscale phenomenological sensing devices. A wide range of experimentally observed phenomena and initial engineering is being cataloged daily, and early conceptualizations and studies of commercially-viable fabrication techniques are often co-proposed with these findings and offerings.
Carbon nanotubes comprise a somewhat broad class of materials. In the organic chemistry and biochemistry found throughout nature, carbon atoms ready link themselves in chains and rings involving one (as in alkanes such as methane), two (as in alkenes such as ethane), or even three (as in alkynes such as ethyne) of their four covalent bonds. Carbon can also link all four bonds with itself, occurring naturally in the long-known 3-dimensional lattice forms (allotropes) of diamonds and graphite and more recently (and perhaps less prevalent in Nature) 2-dimensional lattice form of graphene. Graphene lattices may be arranged in 3-dimensional shapings of their 2-dimensional lattice so that the sheet's “edges” seamlessly connect to themselves to form spheroids (fullerenes), tubes (carbon nanotubes), and cones (carbon nanohorns).
In the case of tubes, the “joining” of the edges of the graphene sheet may be straight-across to result in materials that electrically behave as metals, or made at various angles to cause a twisting (thought of geometrically as helicity, and chemically as chirality) to result in materials that electrically behave as semiconductors. Additionally, carbon nanotubes, as mentioned earlier, may be created in single-wall and multiwall varieties. Of the wide range of devices crafted from carbon nanotubes, many involve constraints as to the number of walls (at least single-wall versus multiple-wall) and type of helicity/chirality (usually at least metal versus semiconductor).
As a first observation, given the small size of carbon nanotubes it is highly likely that a given commercially-fabricated substrate will be most commercially-viable if a single type of carbon nanotube material is employed.
Further, in the case of carbon nanotube sensors and transducers, conventional consideration to interfacing to the larger-scale world of exogenous signal processing and control systems that would co-operate with these miraculous small devices is virtually or completely non-existent. One advantage of nanoscale molecular electronics (including carbon nanotube electronics) is that the degradation of signals and measurements due to thermal and other electrical noise is highly reduced due in part to the smaller electron counts involved in nanoscale electronic device operation. With poor interfacing to the larger-scale world, the valuable gifts and opportunities offered by the sensitivities and signal integrity of these nanoscale devices is easily (and perhaps literally) would otherwise be lost in the noise.
Thus, as a second observation, recognized benefits relate to signal conditioning, signal processing, and control electronics that are compatible with and complementary to the signal integrity of carbon nanotube sensors and transducers. In some circumstances such signal conditioning, signal processing, and control electronics would be purposed to work only with nanoscale devices. In other circumstances such signal conditioning, signal processing, and control electronics would provide high-integrity interfacing between nanoscale devices and the larger-scale world of exogenous systems.
Thus there is a need for signal conditioning and signal processing that is compatible with and complementary to the signal integrity of carbon nanotube sensors and transducers. In some circumstances such as signal conditioning, signal processing, and control electronics would provide high-integrity interfacing between nanoscale devices and the larger-scale world of exogenous systems. In other circumstances the signal conditioning and signal processing electronics may be implemented to work only with other nanoscale devices.
In accordance with various embodiments, features relating to the first and second observations may be implemented to combine carbon nanotube sensors and transducers with nanoscale molecular electronics, and to the extent possible use the same type of carbon nanotube material for both.
Further as to the desirable requirements for this, many of the devised and proposed carbon nanotube sensors, and some proposed carbon nanotube transducers, utilize signals whose voltage and/or current vary over what amounts to a continuous range (or at least a large number) of values, that is, they involve analog signals. It is understood that the present disclosure is not limited to carbon nanotube electronic circuits which focus on logic circuitry (i.e., binary-values or digital signals).
Thus as a third observation, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention, the above described nanoscale molecular electronics made be formed using compatible material as possible to additionally include high-quality analog signal handling and analog signal processing capabilities. In some circumstances only analog signal handling and signal processing will be involved. In other circumstances, analog signals must be converted to (and/or from) digital signals.
Embodiments of the present invention provide a number of benefits. For instance, field-effect transistors may be readily crafted from at least single-wall carbon nanotubes (“SWCN”) and to some extent multi-wall carbon nanotubes (“MWCN”) as is explained in “Single- and Multi-Wall Carbon Nanotube Field-Effect Transistors” R., Martel et al., Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 73 No. 17, Oct. 26, 1998 and many subsequent works known to those skilled in the art. Further, such field-effect transistors (“FETs”) operate in both classical enhancement and depletion modes, for example exhibiting typical (for example “square-law”) voltage-current characteristics associated with common junction FETs (“JFETs”) and metal-oxide semiconductor FETs (“MOSFETs”) used for many years in discrete and monolithic electronics of both analog and digital varieties. Further, it is known that carbon nanotube field-effect transistors can carry very high currents relative to their size (large integer multiples to that of silicon and in some cases even copper wire).
Nonetheless, it is conventionally understood that carbon nanotube electronic circuits are implemented with a focus on logic circuitry (i.e., all signals are binary-valued digital signals). However, most known carbon nanotube field-effect transistors have been measured and seen to readily possess wide rich regions of classical enhancement and depletion modes, for example exhibiting typical (for example “square-law”) voltage-current characteristics associated with common junction gate field-effect transistors (JFETs) and metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs). An example of this is described in a publication by Bachtold, A., Hadley, P., Nakanishi, T., and Dekker, C., entitled “Logic Circuits with Carbon Nanotube Transistors,” Science, Vol. 294, No. 9, November 2001, pgs. 13 17-1320.
Common JFETs and MOSFETs have been used for many years in discrete and monolithic electronics of both analog and digital varieties. It is recognized that because these overall field-effect transistor (FET) characteristics are similar to widely familiar MOSFETs, well-known MOSFET analog integrated circuit designs may be adapted for use in implementations comprising carbon nanotube FETs (CNFETs) as active elements. However, to date, there seems to have been no recognition of any of the forgoing problems, much less any of the solutions provided herein.
Further, many classical FET-based implementations of analog circuits such as buffer amplifiers, current sources, differential amplifiers, operational amplifiers, comparators, voltage sources, etc. (as well as larger circuit structures built from these), employ direct connects between the sources and drains of pairs of FETs. Accordingly, in accordance with various embodiments, various circuit topologies can be exploited or devised so that a single carbon nanotube may be used to implement several interconnected FETs. Additional techniques may be used in some circumstances to implement several otherwise electrically separate analog circuit elements with a common carbon nanotube.
Carbon nanotube FET analog circuit implementations can additionally benefit from two further powerful properties of carbon nanotubes involving electron carrier and heat transport. As to the first of these, it is known that many types of carbon nanotube field-effect transistors can carry very high currents relative to their size (large integer multiples to that of silicon and in some cases even copper wire). These large current carrying capacities considering relative physical size makes them an excellent match for driving physical-scale interfaces with micro-scale or large-scale systems as depicted in
As such, one feature of the present invention applies “small-signal” and other circuit design techniques to carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (“CNFETs”) to create analog electronics for analog signal handling, analog signal processing, and conversions between analog signals and digital signals. As the CNFETs exist and operate at nanoscale, that can be readily collocated or integrated into carbon nanotube sensing and transducing systems, such collocation or integration is at or adequately near nanoscale. These aspects provide for the use of both enhancement and depletion CNFETs.
Further, these techniques may also be applied to other types of carbon-based transistors, such as the gold/thiol molecular transistor pioneered by Schon, Bao, and Meng at Lucent Technologies' Bell Labs. It is noted that this Bell Labs organic transistor is thought to be readily fabricated. See, for example, the publication by Saswato Das, Lucent technologies, entitled “Bell Labs Scientists Usher in New Era of Molecular-Scale Electronics,” http://www.eurekalert.org/publeleases/2001-10/1tl-bls 101501.php.
It is further understood that graphene nanoribbons and other related materials show electronics properties similar to those of carbon nanotubes, including as a fabric for field effect transistors. In particular graphene nanoribbons may have numerous advantages in at least nanodevice fabrication and size (as small as 10 nm with useful semiconducting properties) now that recent graphene nanoribbon manufacturing methods are emerging, such as that reported in the Jan. 28, 2008 article by Bethany Halford entitled “Graphene Ribbons” in Chemical and Engineering News, Vol. 85, No. 4, p. 15. It is further noted that graphene nanoribbons are emerging as an attractive nanoelectronics medium with both conduction and semiconducting properties.
Various embodiments will be described in the context of carbon nanotubes. However, such teachings apply equally to other related materials, such as graphene nanoribbons, in the implementation of transistors and other electronic components presented herein. As will be described herein, carbon nanotubes, graphene nanoribbons and other related materials can be used to create not only sensors but also field effect transistors, junction transistors, and tunneling devices. Accordingly, the discussion to follow will be largely stated in terms of carbon nanotubes, but one skilled in the art will appreciate that the present disclosure provides for comparable devices and structures to be implemented with graphene nanoribbons and other related materials.
The carbon nanotube N-channel field effect transistor 100 is N-Channel due to the presence of absorbed oxygen from the atmosphere during fabrication. It is known that removing the oxygen and sealing to prevent its return results in a P-channel FET.
These two exemplary types of carbon nanotube field effect transistors (“CNFETs”) have been shown to be useful in implementing a complementary field effect transistor logic inverter gate. An exemplary circuit diagram for this is shown in
Other related embodiments, following the spirit of the teachings herein, may be made utilizing one or more molecular transistors that do not comprise a carbon nanotube. For example, embodiments of the invention provide for transistors and other electronic components to be realized by graphene nanoribbons rather than carbon nanotubes. As such, substitution of the carbon nanotubes devices and structures with comparable graphene nanoribbon devices and structures is anticipated and provided for by the invention. Additionally, analog circuits utilizing the physical geometry and topology of the carbon “Y” nanotube (rather than special electrical properties) are also anticipated and provided for by the invention with exemplary embodiments to be described in more detail below.
Attention is now directed to an implementation of nano-scale analog electronic circuits, and in particular to realizations comprising carbon nanotubes. One interest relates to a relatively basic circuit, such as a differential amplifier, that can be used in the interfacing of a sensor or sensing-mode transducer. A differential amplifier circuit, for example, can be used to provide amplification and isolation for delicate signals produced by carbon nanotube sensors and other nanoscale sensors. Additionally, in many cases, the differential input arrangement of the differential amplifier provides a basic structural and operational block that is useful for creating feedback structures, particularly negative feedback, as well as in implementing comparators that can provide thresholding and analog-to-digital conversions operations. Further, in one embodiment, a differential amplifier may be used as a comparator for use in converting analog-valued electrical signals to binary-valued electrical signals, other signals, event symbols, and the like.
Alternative embodiments provide for a plurality of comparators to convert analog-valued electrical signals to digitally-valued electrical signals, other signals, and event symbols, among others. If desired, a plurality of these comparators with adequately well-defined output voltage or current values may be used to convert digitally-valued electrical signals, other signals, event symbols, and the like, to analog-valued electrical signals. In some cases, digitally-valued electrical signals are provided, whatever there origin to be operated on by logic circuitry comprising carbon nanotube transistors.
Further, differential amplifiers can be ganged in cascades or further amplified in other ways to produce operational amplifiers. As is well known in the art, operational amplifiers can be used to implement a wide variety of sophisticated functions that are useful for interfacing with sensors and other circuits. Many of these useful sophisticated functions can be implemented in some form directly from a simple differential amplifier. These useful sophisticated functions realizable by simple differential amplifiers and/or from operational amplifiers comprised of differential amplifiers include, among others:
Additionally, in some situations one or both of the signal input transistors of a differential amplifier may be replaced with a sensor, thus integrating the sensor directly into the sensor interface circuit. In many situations this can save the number of electrical components required, reduce circuit and fabrication complexity, improve sensitivity, improve noise rejection, etc. Thus, a carbon nanotube implementation of an analog differential amplifier is of considerable interest and value for use in conjunction with carbon nanotube sensors and other types of nanoscale systems.
Further, in one embodiment, a differential amplifier is used as part of a controllable analog signal transconductance amplifier, which in turn can be used to create a 2-quadrant or 4-quadrant analog multiplier. See, for example, the publication entitled “RCA Linear Integrated Circuits,” RCA Corporation, Somerville, 1970.
The voltage-current characteristics of typical carbon nanotube field effect transistors described earlier are also known to be similar to those for conventional field effect transistors. In particular, it is the characteristics that comprise electrical operating regions outside device saturation which, as an aspect of the invention, may be adapted for conventional small signal linear amplification and other analog circuit applications. In particular, one embodiment of the invention provides for such non-saturating operating regions of various carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (“CNFETs”) to be adapted to create differential amplifiers and other analog circuits.
With this established, attention is next directed to linear differential amplifier circuits realized with field-effect transistors that may be adapted for implementation with complementary carbon nanotube field-effect transistors.
Other variations are possible for the current source; for example, using diodes with a forward voltage drop rather than using one or more resistors. A number of simply realized carbon nanotube diodes have been reported, including the one by General Electric Global Research with current-voltage characteristics nearly exactly following the ideal diode equation reported in http://nanotechweb.org/cws/article/tech/19870 and Applied Physics Letters 87,073101, Aug. 8, 2005. Depending on the characteristics of the diode relative to the current source FET 420, the topological circuit arrangement depicted in
In
In view of the many types of current source circuits that could be used,
In general, an external input signal and/or feedback signal can be presented to either of the two signal inputs 401, 402 in
As is well known to one skilled in the art of analog circuits, these two signal outputs differ in sign as to the small-signal variation produced responsive to the signal inputs. For either output, an increase in voltage at one of the two signal inputs will cause an output signal voltage increase while an increase in voltage at the other signal inputs will cause an output signal voltage decrease as is well known to one skilled in the art of analog circuits. As will be demonstrated and as provided for by various embodiments of the invention, the exemplary type of circuit arrangement depicted in
As discussed earlier, under certain conditions it is possible to replace one or both of the input transistors of a differential amplifier with a sensor element.
Further as to the utility of various embodiments of the present invention, several carbon nanotube sensors have been described as using a carbon nanotube field effect transistor or a similarly or closely related structure. In one example, a large organic affinity molecule may be attached to a carbon nanotube in a region between two electrodes. A chemical reaction event involving the large organic molecule affects the current flow through the carbon nanotube. This process of varying the current through the carbon nanotube as a function of the electric field in a region between two electrically terminating electrodes is very similar to the actions within a carbon nanotube field effect transistor, effectively using the large organic affinity molecule as a substitute gate terminal of a FET.
In this view as a modified field effect transistor, chemical affinities or reactivity of the attached organic molecule causes changes in the electric field in the vicinity of the attachment point and thus generally affects the current flow through the carbon nanotube. Such sensors have been reported by, among others, Collins, Goldsmith, Coroneus, et al. in Science 2007, pgs. 315 and 77. It is noted that similar types of semiconductor field effect chemical sensors employing silicon-based semiconductor structures are often referred to as “bioFETs.”
The configuration of
In
In
Also shown in
Should other resistances be needed between terminals 605 and 606, or for other analog circuits, multiple carbon nanotube resistors may be interconnected in series, parallel, series-parallel, or yet other network arrangements to obtain multiples, submultiples, and other variations of the currently limited resistance value obtained by known carbon nanotube resistors. Alternative resistor techniques may also emerge which would provide a wider range of resistive values, and these arrangements may alternatively be implemented.
As to the current source depicted in
It is additionally noted that in other types of circuit implementations, the sixth electrode 606 may be insulated from the nanotube to form a capacitive or other type of circuit element between electrodes 605 and 606. Such a capacitive element may, for example, be put in parallel with resistive element 630 to alter the higher frequency behavior of the circuit. Use of such carbon nanotube capacitors will be revisited later in the disclosure.
With the current source implementation above devised, one can now combine it with two interconnected complementary pairs of carbon nanotube transistors biased by the supply voltages and current source to operate in analog modalities rather than in saturating modes as is the case in digital CNFET logic circuits. Further, the carbon nanotube transistor whose channel type (P-channel or N-channel) is complementary to the type used in the current source can be wired so that its gate connects to its source terminal to form an active load transistor circuit. The result is a differential amplifier which can be realized with carbon nanotubes as provided for by embodiments of the invention. Various examples with differing features and utility are demonstrated below. These examples are non-limiting as many related and non-related variations are possible as is clear to one skilled in the art as provided herein.
The conductive electrical contacts depicted in
Further, the arrangement depicted in
As another example, either or both of CNFET CNFET1 and/or CNFET3 may be replaced with an appropriate optical sensing carbon nanotube sensor or optical sensing CNFET. Also, either or both of the active load CNFET2 and/or CNFET4 may be replaced with an appropriate optical sensing carbon nanotube sensor or optical sensing FET. Either or both of these optical sensing and optical emitting CNFET arrangements allow for optical signal interconnections among carbon nanotube segments, within regions within the same carbon nanotube, or signal connections with external systems. A number of simply realized optical sensing CNFETs and optical emitting CNFET have been reported, for example as special cases of the diode1CNFET technology by General Electric Global Research as reported in http://nanotechweb.org/cws/article/tech/19870 and Applied Physics Letters 87,073101, Aug. 8, 2005.
The result, however, is quite advantageous and perhaps surprising—an entire analog differential amplifier created from a single carbon nanotube! This arrangement has many advantages, among these being ease of fabrication, natural advantages in matching the pair of CNFETs used as the differential pair, and natural advantages in matching the pair of CNFETs used as the active loads. Additional advantages will be subsequently demonstrated.
Additionally, various embodiments of the invention provide, in the manner described before, for either or both of CNFET1 and/or CNFET3 to be replaced with an appropriate carbon nanotube sensor. For example,
Still further, either or both of the active load CNFET2 and/or CNFET4 may be replaced with an appropriate optical sensing carbon nanotube sensor or optical sensing FET. Either or both of these optical sensing and optical emitting CNFET arrangements allow for optical signal interconnections among carbon nanotube segments, within regions of the same carbon nanotube, or signal connections with external systems. A number of simply realized optical sensing CNFETs and optical emitting CNFET have been reported, for example those by General Electric Global Research as reported in http://nanotechweb.org/cws/article/tech/19870 and Applied Physics Letters 87,073101, Aug. 8, 2005.
Attention is now returned to techniques used to effectively connect pairs of circuit segments and render both with a common carbon nanotube. With reference to
As has been demonstrated, however, a single carbon nanotube can be shared to serve the roles of two carbon nanotube segments if the ends of these two segments share an electrical contact or other direct electrical interconnection.
Further, as demonstrated herein, this can be sequentially repeated to string together as many admissible pairwise sharings as there are available in the circuit. For the purposes of this disclosure, this arrangement will be referred to as a “carbon nanotube sharing principle.” The carbon nanotube sharing principle also provides a design technique in that, much like the so-called silicon “IP-cores” in silicon-based “System-on-a-Chip” formalisms and commercial marketplaces, one or more carbon nanotube designs for libraries of individual subsystems that can be separately designed and realized. Such arrangements may be implemented in advance and as “nanotube IP-core” products for a “System-on-a-Nanotube” marketplace. The design for each such nanotube IP-core may also be made available as abstracted as a graph for computer manipulation to present various nanotube segment-joining or other inter-segment electrical or optical interconnection opportunities, among other uses.
As indicated earlier, differential amplifiers can be ganged in cascades or further amplified in other ways to produce operational amplifiers which in turn can be used to implement a wide variety of sophisticated functions useful for interfacing with sensors and other circuits.
As an example,
Carbon nanotubes with a “Y” structure, which will be referred to as a “Y” carbon nanotube, depicted in
Various embodiments use the geometric and topological properties of a Y carbon nanotube to realize a single Y carbon nanotube implementation of the circuits of
Attention is now directed to the use of carbon nanotube differential amplifiers and more complex carbon nanotube operational amplifiers such as the example described in conjunction with
When implemented with sufficiently high open-loop gain, carbon nanotube differential amplifiers and carbon nanotube operational amplifiers may be used as comparators. In one embodiment, a differential amplifier may be used as a comparator for use in converting analog-valued electrical signals to binary-valued electrical signals, other signals, event symbols, and the like. Alternatively, a plurality of comparators may be used to convert analog-valued electrical signals to digitally-valued electrical signals, other signals, and event symbols, among others. Further, a plurality of comparators with adequately well-defined output voltage or current values may be used to convert digitally-valued electrical signals, other signals, event symbols, and the like, to analog-valued electrical signals.
Additionally, the differential input arrangement of the differential amplifier provides a basic structural and operational block that is very useful for creating feedback structures, particularly negative feedback.
In some applications, the indigenous gain of a simple differential amplifier may be sufficient for realizing the associated functional signal processing building block. In
A plethora of low-pass, bandpass, and high-pass filters employing feedback amplifiers are known. The simplest employ simple RC filters, such as a twin-T, supplemented by unity gain amplifiers.
It is also possible to vary the current into a differential pair of CNFETs using at least a third CNFET as a voltage-controlled current source. Within some limits the resulting configuration, such as the exemplary one depicted in
It is also possible to apply these techniques to other types of specialized analog circuits, for example analog distributed amplifiers. The latter can be expected to provide and exploit synergies involving small physical size, repetitive structure, and high frequency operation.
While the invention has been described in detail with reference to disclosed embodiments, various modifications within the scope of the invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in this technological field. It is to be appreciated that features described with respect to one embodiment typically may be applied to other embodiments. Therefore, the invention properly is to be construed with reference to the claims.
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