Creation of Individual Defects at Extremely High Proton Fluences in Carbon Nanotube Diodes

We show that carbon nanotubes are robust under high H₂⁺ ion fluences. We draw this conclusion by analyzing radiation-induced defects in reconfigurable single-walled carbon nanotube p-n diodes with partially suspended nanotubes. Our analysis show that any defects created through radiation is likely the result of interactions between the nanotube and the substrate, whereas the suspended region of the nanotube remains undamaged. In addition, we show that key features in the diode characteristics can be explained by a single radiation-induced defect that enhances the minority carrier generation rate of only one carrier type.