Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 256804 (2008) [4 pages]Avalanche-Induced Current Enhancement in Semiconducting Carbon NanotubesReceived 8 August 2008; published 16 December 2008 Semiconducting single-wall carbon nanotubes under high electric field stress (∼10 V/μm) display a remarkable current increase due to avalanche generation of free electrons and holes. Unlike other materials, the avalanche process in such 1D quantum wires involves access to the third subband and is insensitive to temperature but strongly dependent on diameter ∼exp(-1/d2). Comparison with a theoretical model yields a novel approach to obtain the inelastic optical phonon emission length λOP,ems≈15d nm. The new results underscore the importance of multiband transport in 1D molecular wires. © 2008 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.256804
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.256804
PACS:
73.63.Fg, 72.10.−d, 73.22.−f, 73.23.−b
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