Pave the way to the batch production of SWNT arrays for carbon-based electronic devices

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have been regarded as one of the most promising candidates to supplement or even replace silicon in the post-Moore era. The requirement is to prepare the horizontally aligned SWNTs arrays (HASAs) with multiple indicators, including high density, high semiconducting purity, and wafer-scale uniformity. However, after all the fevered works being done in controlled synthesis, we still have a long way to go before realizing the application of SWNTs in highly performed electronic devices. The methods of batch production and high-throughput characterization techniques of the HASAs are the two main challenges. In this outlook, we first summarized the progresses in synthesis of HASAs with either high density or high semiconducting purity. Then the methods adopted in characterizing SWNTs and HASAs were discussed according to the different principles of characterization techniques. Afterwards, the development of carbon nanotube based electronic devices, specifically, the field effect transistors (FETs), was reviewed from three perspectives. The problems involved in electronic applications bring forward the higher request to the HASAs itself. Therefore, in the end of this outlook, we prospected the future of the synthesis and corresponding characterization of HASAs, and tried to provide our ideas about how to pave the way to the batch production of HASAs for carbon based electronic devices.