@article{Yang2026, 
author = {Yi Yang and Anqi Zheng and Shangjing Yang and Yuan Zhou and Yujia Gong and Yuan Kai and Ke He and Yi Li and Yuting Zhang and Yu Cao and Xuelei Liang and Yu Xia and Lian-Mao Peng and Jiahao Kang},
title = {Suppressing trap density in carbon nanotube transistors via atomically smooth amorphous metal gates},
year = {2026},
journal = {Nano Research},
keywords = {carbon nanotubes (CNTs), thin-film transistors (TFTs), gate topography, amorphous metal, interface traps, carbon-based electronics},
url = {https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.26599/NR.2026.94909014},
doi = {10.26599/NR.2026.94909014},
abstract = {Carbon nanotube-based (CNT-based) transistors are promising devices for next-generation electronic devices owing to their extraordinary electrostatics, high carrier mobility, and compatibility with low-temperature processing. However, in the widely used bottom-gate configuration, gate topography as a nanoscale physical parameter and its role in governing interfacial states and charge dynamics in carbon nanotube transistors remains insufficiently studied, despite its significant influence on interface charge trapping, hysteresis, bias-stress stability, and overall device performances. This work systematically investigates the role of gate topography by introducing an atomically smooth amorphous metal (ZrCuAlNi) as bottom-gate electrode, and comparing it with conventional polycrystalline metal gate. Owing to its homogeneous, grain-boundary-free microstructure, the amorphous metal gate enables the formation of a high-quality gate dielectric interface, which reduces the interface trap density by 39.27% in average and consequently lowers the device hysteresis voltage by about 50%, accompanied by improved carrier mobility, on-state current and bias stress stabilities, while maintaining the on/off ratio (>106). These results reveal that nanoscale gate surface morphology plays a critical role in regulating interfacial trap dynamics and charge transport in CNT transistors. The interface de-pinning mechanism demonstrated here with ultrasmooth gates is expected to be broadly applicable to other semiconductors. Consequently, this work provides both a specific material solution for stable CNT transistors and new insights into interface engineering strategies for carbon nanotube electronics and other carbon-based electronic devices.}
}