Toward compact model of Optical-Gated Carbon NanoTube Field Effect Transistor (OG-CNTFET)

By coating a thin layer of photosensitive polymer such as poly3-octylthiophene-2,5-diyl (P3OT), the Carbon Nanotube Field Effect Transistor (CNTFET) provides an optical gating phenomenon [1]. It is called Optical-Gated CNTFET (OG-CNTFET or OGCNTFET). Compared to the conventional CNTFET, the OG-CNTFET reveals a right hand shift of the drain current vs. gate bias voltage. If this device is under an enough powerful laser illumination, the gate bias will no longer modulate the channel’s conductivity, and the optical gate will dominate the functionality. This property of variable conductance is of particular interest for neural network designs to define a third logic level. Thus, we are developing a compact model for OG-CNTFET since the prediction of ultimate performances of novel nano-devices in a circuit environment appears as a key issue and compact modeling (SPICE-like), among the simulation tools, is a valuable one to assess the actual potentialities of a device technology.