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Carbon nanotube field‐effect transistors fabricated on silicon wafers with thermal oxide often suffer from large gate‐voltage hysteresis, induced by charge trapping sites in oxides, surface hydroxyl groups, and the presence of water molecules. Surface functionalization and passivation, as well as vacuum annealing and reduced operating temperature, have shown to diminish or even eliminate hysteresis. Herein, the fabrication of nearly hysteresis‐free transistors on Si/SiO₂ by embedding carbon nanotubes and the connecting electrodes in a hexagonal boron nitride (h‐BN) bottom layer and a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) top layer is demonstrated. The conditions at which catalyst‐free synthesis of h‐BN on SiO₂/Si with borazine is obtained, and the subsequent liquid‐phase deposition of PTFE, are discussed. Device transfer curves are measured before and after PTFE deposition. It is found that the hysteresis is reduced after PTFE deposition, but vanishes only after a waiting period of several days. Simultaneously, the on‐state current increases with time. The results give evidence for the absence of trap states in h‐BN/PTFE heterolayers and a high breakthrough field strength in those wafer‐scalable materials.

Photodetection across the near‐infrared (NIR) to short‐wavelength infrared (SWIR) spectrum is important for many applications. This study explores photodetection using nanocrystalline graphite (NCG) in a suspended, narrow constriction configuration for improved performance. Bowtie constrictions are fabricated in both suspended and substrate‐supported NCG devices, allowing for accurate comparison. It shows that the suspended constriction enhances the bolometric photoresponse and sensor detectivity by several orders of magnitude compared to the substrate‐supported counterparts, attributed to reduced thermalization and electric field concentration. The suspended configuration preserves a spectrally flat photoresponse while reducing operating voltage through a tailored NCG layer thickness. Chromatic aberration‐corrected photocurrent spectroscopy is used to measure the photoresponse from 1100 to 1700 nm, and diffraction‐limited hyperspectral photocurrent imaging is conducted to measure the local photocurrent generation across the device. Bolometric and photo‐thermoelectric currents are restricted to the suspended central constriction due to electric field concentration and thermal decoupling and the direction of the photocurrents within the sensor is revealed. The experimental data is complemented by simulations of the light absorption and the electric field distribution. This work indicates the importance of geometry and thermal decoupling for boosting device performance, offering promising prospects for sensitive and low‐power NCG‐based photodetectors in the NIR‐SWIR range.

A highly sensitive and low‐power sensing platform for detecting ethanol molecules by interfacing high‐purity, large‐diameter semiconducting carbon nanotube transistors with a metal–organic framework layer is presented. The new devices outperform similar graphene‐based metal–organic framework devices by several orders of magnitude in terms of sensitivity and power consumption, and can detect extremely low ethanol concentrations down to sub‐ppb levels while consuming only picowatts of power. The exceptional sensor performance results from the nanotube transistor's high on/off ratio and its sensitivity to charges, allowing for ultra‐low power consumption. The platform can also compensate for shifts in threshold voltage induced by ambient conditions, making it suitable for use in humid air. This novel concept of MOF/CNTFETs could be customized for detecting various gaseous analytes, leading to a range of ultra‐sensitive and ultra‐low power sensors.

Polymer pyrolysis has emerged as a versatile method to synthesize graphenoid (graphene like) materials with varying thickness and properties. The morphology of the thin film, especially the thickness, greatly affects the graphitizability and the properties of the graphenoid material. Using in situ current annealing inside a transmission electron microscope (TEM), the thickness‐dependent structural evolution of the polymer film with a special focus on thickness effects is followed. At high temperatures, thin samples form large graphene layers oriented parallel to the substrate, whereas in thick samples multi‐walled cage‐like structures are formed. Moleclar Dynamics (MD) simulations reveal a film thickness of 40 Å below which, the carbonized layers align parallel to the surface. For thicker samples, the orientation of the layers becomes increasingly misoriented starting from the surface to the center. This structural change can be attributed to the formation of bonded multi‐layers from the initially unsaturated activated edges. The resulting cage‐like structures are stable even during simulated annealing at temperatures as high as 3500 K. An atomistic understanding of the formation of these structures is presented. The results clearly indicate the critical effect of thickness on the graphitizability of polymers and provide a new understanding of the structural evolution during pyrolysis.

Photodetection across the near‐infrared (NIR) to short‐wavelength infrared (SWIR) spectrum is important for many applications. This study explores photodetection using nanocrystalline graphite (NCG) in a suspended, narrow constriction configuration for improved performance. Bowtie constrictions are fabricated in both suspended and substrate‐supported NCG devices, allowing for accurate comparison. It shows that the suspended constriction enhances the bolometric photoresponse and sensor detectivity by several orders of magnitude compared to the substrate‐supported counterparts, attributed to reduced thermalization and electric field concentration. The suspended configuration preserves a spectrally flat photoresponse while reducing operating voltage through a tailored NCG layer thickness. Chromatic aberration‐corrected photocurrent spectroscopy is used to measure the photoresponse from 1100 to 1700 nm, and diffraction‐limited hyperspectral photocurrent imaging is conducted to measure the local photocurrent generation across the device. Bolometric and photo‐thermoelectric currents are restricted to the suspended central constriction due to electric field concentration and thermal decoupling and the direction of the photocurrents within the sensor is revealed. The experimental data is complemented by simulations of the light absorption and the electric field distribution. This work indicates the importance of geometry and thermal decoupling for boosting device performance, offering promising prospects for sensitive and low‐power NCG‐based photodetectors in the NIR‐SWIR range.

A highly sensitive and low‐power sensing platform for detecting ethanol molecules by interfacing high‐purity, large‐diameter semiconducting carbon nanotube transistors with a metal–organic framework layer is presented. The new devices outperform similar graphene‐based metal–organic framework devices by several orders of magnitude in terms of sensitivity and power consumption, and can detect extremely low ethanol concentrations down to sub‐ppb levels while consuming only picowatts of power. The exceptional sensor performance results from the nanotube transistor's high on/off ratio and its sensitivity to charges, allowing for ultra‐low power consumption. The platform can also compensate for shifts in threshold voltage induced by ambient conditions, making it suitable for use in humid air. This novel concept of MOF/CNTFETs could be customized for detecting various gaseous analytes, leading to a range of ultra‐sensitive and ultra‐low power sensors.

Photodetection across the near‐infrared (NIR) to short‐wavelength infrared (SWIR) spectrum is important for many applications. This study explores photodetection using nanocrystalline graphite (NCG) in a suspended, narrow constriction configuration for improved performance. Bowtie constrictions are fabricated in both suspended and substrate‐supported NCG devices, allowing for accurate comparison. It shows that the suspended constriction enhances the bolometric photoresponse and sensor detectivity by several orders of magnitude compared to the substrate‐supported counterparts, attributed to reduced thermalization and electric field concentration. The suspended configuration preserves a spectrally flat photoresponse while reducing operating voltage through a tailored NCG layer thickness. Chromatic aberration‐corrected photocurrent spectroscopy is used to measure the photoresponse from 1100 to 1700 nm, and diffraction‐limited hyperspectral photocurrent imaging is conducted to measure the local photocurrent generation across the device. Bolometric and photo‐thermoelectric currents are restricted to the suspended central constriction due to electric field concentration and thermal decoupling and the direction of the photocurrents within the sensor is revealed. The experimental data is complemented by simulations of the light absorption and the electric field distribution. This work indicates the importance of geometry and thermal decoupling for boosting device performance, offering promising prospects for sensitive and low‐power NCG‐based photodetectors in the NIR‐SWIR range.

Polymer pyrolysis has emerged as a versatile method to synthesize graphenoid (graphene like) materials with varying thickness and properties. The morphology of the thin film, especially the thickness, greatly affects the graphitizability and the properties of the graphenoid material. Using in situ current annealing inside a transmission electron microscope (TEM), the thickness‐dependent structural evolution of the polymer film with a special focus on thickness effects is followed. At high temperatures, thin samples form large graphene layers oriented parallel to the substrate, whereas in thick samples multi‐walled cage‐like structures are formed. Moleclar Dynamics (MD) simulations reveal a film thickness of 40 Å below which, the carbonized layers align parallel to the surface. For thicker samples, the orientation of the layers becomes increasingly misoriented starting from the surface to the center. This structural change can be attributed to the formation of bonded multi‐layers from the initially unsaturated activated edges. The resulting cage‐like structures are stable even during simulated annealing at temperatures as high as 3500 K. An atomistic understanding of the formation of these structures is presented. The results clearly indicate the critical effect of thickness on the graphitizability of polymers and provide a new understanding of the structural evolution during pyrolysis.

Carbon nanotube field‐effect transistors fabricated on silicon wafers with thermal oxide often suffer from large gate‐voltage hysteresis, induced by charge trapping sites in oxides, surface hydroxyl groups, and the presence of water molecules. Surface functionalization and passivation, as well as vacuum annealing and reduced operating temperature, have shown to diminish or even eliminate hysteresis. Herein, the fabrication of nearly hysteresis‐free transistors on Si/SiO₂ by embedding carbon nanotubes and the connecting electrodes in a hexagonal boron nitride (h‐BN) bottom layer and a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) top layer is demonstrated. The conditions at which catalyst‐free synthesis of h‐BN on SiO₂/Si with borazine is obtained, and the subsequent liquid‐phase deposition of PTFE, are discussed. Device transfer curves are measured before and after PTFE deposition. It is found that the hysteresis is reduced after PTFE deposition, but vanishes only after a waiting period of several days. Simultaneously, the on‐state current increases with time. The results give evidence for the absence of trap states in h‐BN/PTFE heterolayers and a high breakthrough field strength in those wafer‐scalable materials.

Carbon nanotube field‐effect transistors fabricated on silicon wafers with thermal oxide often suffer from large gate‐voltage hysteresis, induced by charge trapping sites in oxides, surface hydroxyl groups, and the presence of water molecules. Surface functionalization and passivation, as well as vacuum annealing and reduced operating temperature, have shown to diminish or even eliminate hysteresis. Herein, the fabrication of nearly hysteresis‐free transistors on Si/SiO₂ by embedding carbon nanotubes and the connecting electrodes in a hexagonal boron nitride (h‐BN) bottom layer and a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) top layer is demonstrated. The conditions at which catalyst‐free synthesis of h‐BN on SiO₂/Si with borazine is obtained, and the subsequent liquid‐phase deposition of PTFE, are discussed. Device transfer curves are measured before and after PTFE deposition. It is found that the hysteresis is reduced after PTFE deposition, but vanishes only after a waiting period of several days. Simultaneously, the on‐state current increases with time. The results give evidence for the absence of trap states in h‐BN/PTFE heterolayers and a high breakthrough field strength in those wafer‐scalable materials.

Carbon nanotube field‐effect transistors fabricated on silicon wafers with thermal oxide often suffer from large gate‐voltage hysteresis, induced by charge trapping sites in oxides, surface hydroxyl groups, and the presence of water molecules. Surface functionalization and passivation, as well as vacuum annealing and reduced operating temperature, have shown to diminish or even eliminate hysteresis. Herein, the fabrication of nearly hysteresis‐free transistors on Si/SiO₂ by embedding carbon nanotubes and the connecting electrodes in a hexagonal boron nitride (h‐BN) bottom layer and a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) top layer is demonstrated. The conditions at which catalyst‐free synthesis of h‐BN on SiO₂/Si with borazine is obtained, and the subsequent liquid‐phase deposition of PTFE, are discussed. Device transfer curves are measured before and after PTFE deposition. It is found that the hysteresis is reduced after PTFE deposition, but vanishes only after a waiting period of several days. Simultaneously, the on‐state current increases with time. The results give evidence for the absence of trap states in h‐BN/PTFE heterolayers and a high breakthrough field strength in those wafer‐scalable materials.

A highly sensitive and low‐power sensing platform for detecting ethanol molecules by interfacing high‐purity, large‐diameter semiconducting carbon nanotube transistors with a metal–organic framework layer is presented. The new devices outperform similar graphene‐based metal–organic framework devices by several orders of magnitude in terms of sensitivity and power consumption, and can detect extremely low ethanol concentrations down to sub‐ppb levels while consuming only picowatts of power. The exceptional sensor performance results from the nanotube transistor's high on/off ratio and its sensitivity to charges, allowing for ultra‐low power consumption. The platform can also compensate for shifts in threshold voltage induced by ambient conditions, making it suitable for use in humid air. This novel concept of MOF/CNTFETs could be customized for detecting various gaseous analytes, leading to a range of ultra‐sensitive and ultra‐low power sensors.

Polymer pyrolysis has emerged as a versatile method to synthesize graphenoid (graphene like) materials with varying thickness and properties. The morphology of the thin film, especially the thickness, greatly affects the graphitizability and the properties of the graphenoid material. Using in situ current annealing inside a transmission electron microscope (TEM), the thickness‐dependent structural evolution of the polymer film with a special focus on thickness effects is followed. At high temperatures, thin samples form large graphene layers oriented parallel to the substrate, whereas in thick samples multi‐walled cage‐like structures are formed. Moleclar Dynamics (MD) simulations reveal a film thickness of 40 Å below which, the carbonized layers align parallel to the surface. For thicker samples, the orientation of the layers becomes increasingly misoriented starting from the surface to the center. This structural change can be attributed to the formation of bonded multi‐layers from the initially unsaturated activated edges. The resulting cage‐like structures are stable even during simulated annealing at temperatures as high as 3500 K. An atomistic understanding of the formation of these structures is presented. The results clearly indicate the critical effect of thickness on the graphitizability of polymers and provide a new understanding of the structural evolution during pyrolysis.

Graphene is inherently sensitive to vicinal dielectrics and local charge distributions, a property that can be probed by the position of the Dirac point in graphene field‐effect transistors. Exploiting this as a useful sensing principle requires selectivity; however, graphene itself exhibits no molecule‐specific interaction. Complementarily, metal–organic frameworks can be tailored to selective adsorption of specific molecular species. Here, a selective ethanol sensor is demonstrated by growing a surface‐mounted metal–organic framework (SURMOF) directly onto graphene field‐effect transistors (GFETs). Unprecedented shifts of the Dirac point, as large as 15 V, are observed when the SURMOF/GFET is exposed to ethanol, while a vanishingly small response is observed for isopropanol, methanol, and other constituents of the air, including water. The synthesis and conditioning of the hybrid materials sensor with its functional characteristics are described and a model is proposed to explain the origin, magnitude, and direction of the Dirac point voltage shift. Tailoring multiple SURMOFs to adsorb specific gases on an array of such devices thus generates a versatile, selective, and highly sensitive platform for sensing applications.

Graphene is inherently sensitive to vicinal dielectrics and local charge distributions, a property that can be probed by the position of the Dirac point in graphene field‐effect transistors. Exploiting this as a useful sensing principle requires selectivity; however, graphene itself exhibits no molecule‐specific interaction. Complementarily, metal–organic frameworks can be tailored to selective adsorption of specific molecular species. Here, a selective ethanol sensor is demonstrated by growing a surface‐mounted metal–organic framework (SURMOF) directly onto graphene field‐effect transistors (GFETs). Unprecedented shifts of the Dirac point, as large as 15 V, are observed when the SURMOF/GFET is exposed to ethanol, while a vanishingly small response is observed for isopropanol, methanol, and other constituents of the air, including water. The synthesis and conditioning of the hybrid materials sensor with its functional characteristics are described and a model is proposed to explain the origin, magnitude, and direction of the Dirac point voltage shift. Tailoring multiple SURMOFs to adsorb specific gases on an array of such devices thus generates a versatile, selective, and highly sensitive platform for sensing applications.

Graphene is inherently sensitive to vicinal dielectrics and local charge distributions, a property that can be probed by the position of the Dirac point in graphene field‐effect transistors. Exploiting this as a useful sensing principle requires selectivity; however, graphene itself exhibits no molecule‐specific interaction. Complementarily, metal–organic frameworks can be tailored to selective adsorption of specific molecular species. Here, a selective ethanol sensor is demonstrated by growing a surface‐mounted metal–organic framework (SURMOF) directly onto graphene field‐effect transistors (GFETs). Unprecedented shifts of the Dirac point, as large as 15 V, are observed when the SURMOF/GFET is exposed to ethanol, while a vanishingly small response is observed for isopropanol, methanol, and other constituents of the air, including water. The synthesis and conditioning of the hybrid materials sensor with its functional characteristics are described and a model is proposed to explain the origin, magnitude, and direction of the Dirac point voltage shift. Tailoring multiple SURMOFs to adsorb specific gases on an array of such devices thus generates a versatile, selective, and highly sensitive platform for sensing applications.

Graphene is inherently sensitive to vicinal dielectrics and local charge distributions, a property that can be probed by the position of the Dirac point in graphene field‐effect transistors. Exploiting this as a useful sensing principle requires selectivity; however, graphene itself exhibits no molecule‐specific interaction. Complementarily, metal–organic frameworks can be tailored to selective adsorption of specific molecular species. Here, a selective ethanol sensor is demonstrated by growing a surface‐mounted metal–organic framework (SURMOF) directly onto graphene field‐effect transistors (GFETs). Unprecedented shifts of the Dirac point, as large as 15 V, are observed when the SURMOF/GFET is exposed to ethanol, while a vanishingly small response is observed for isopropanol, methanol, and other constituents of the air, including water. The synthesis and conditioning of the hybrid materials sensor with its functional characteristics are described and a model is proposed to explain the origin, magnitude, and direction of the Dirac point voltage shift. Tailoring multiple SURMOFs to adsorb specific gases on an array of such devices thus generates a versatile, selective, and highly sensitive platform for sensing applications.