Boosting carbon nanotube transistors through γ-ray irradiation

Advanced electronics in the post-Moore era require foundry-level performance enhancements. Carbon nanotube field-effect transistors, compatible with commercial silicon manufacturing, surpass the fundamental performance limits of silicon field-effect transistors. However, interface imperfections between carbon nanotubes and the dielectric cause poor gate controllability and current leakage. This work demonstrates that organic molecules near the carbon nanotubes can be mitigated by high-energy γ-ray irradiation. The treatment reduces off-state current density to 112.2 pA μm−1, approaching the 100 pA μm−1 low-power target, and achieves an on/off ratio of ~105. The quasi-gate-all-around architecture shows radiation tolerance up to 100 Mrad(Si), surpassing traditional silicon-based devices by over two orders of magnitude. This foundry-compatible strategy operates at room temperature with high throughput, advancing the practical application of nanotube transistors. Zhang et al. report a foundry-compatible γ-ray treatment to induce chemical bond changes of organic contaminants in carbon nanotube transistors, mitigating the imperfections at the carbon nanotube/dielectric interface, reducing the off-state current density to 112.2 pA μm-1, and achieving radiation tolerance up to 100 Mrad(Si).