Coulomb blockade oscillation in a multiwalled carbon nanotube with internanotube tunnel junctions.

Internanotube charge transport in a multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWNT) was investigated. We directly measured electrical transport from the outer nanotube to the inner nanotubes in a MWNT with two electrodes. The outer nanotubes between the two electrodes were disconnected, leaving the innermost nanotube, so that the current flows into the innermost nanotube via the internanotube junctions. The transport properties of this device clearly showed Coulomb blockade oscillation with a charging energy of 15 meV at 4.2 K. The observed Coulomb blockade oscillation was nonperiodic to the gate voltage, indicating that the multiple internanotube tunnel junctions were formed underneath the electrodes. © 2003 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]