Manufacturing Methodology for Carbon Nanotube Electronics

While carbon nanotube (CNT) field-effect transistors (CNFETs) are a promising emerging nanotechnology for next-generation energy-efficient electronic systems, major challenges inherent to CNTs have prohibited their benefits from being realized. Here, we summarize recent work for overcoming these challenges, forming a universal manufacturing methodology for CNTs. Leveraging these advances, we show the first complementary CNFET digital systems fabricated in a silicon-CMOS and VLSI-compatible fashion, culminating in a 16-bit microprocessor based on the RISC-V instruction set built entirely out of CNFETs.