Intellectual Property Law

US Patent 7632762 - Semiconductor nanotube device fabrication

Since at least 2001 the use of high current has been used as in a method of burning off "metallic" carbon nanotubes and leaving semiconductor carbon nanotubes. This patent from Foster-Miller teaches a similar method in which a ramped voltage is used to manufacture semiconductor nanotube devices. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method of forming a semiconductor device, comprising the steps of:

providing a substrate comprising two electrodes wherein the two electrodes are connected to a power supply;

providing a solvent comprising a plurality of semiconducting carbon nanotubes and a plurality of metallic carbon nanotubes;

submersing the substrate in the solvent wherein the plurality of semiconducting carbon nanotubes and plurality of metallic carbon nanotubes form a carbon nanotube bundle disposed between the two electrodes; and

ramping a bias voltage across the two electrodes wherein the ramping of the bias voltage removes the plurality of metallic carbon nanotubes in an amount sufficient to form the semiconducting device.

Full post as published by TinytechIP on December 17, 2009 (boomark / email).