An electrical switch based on Ag-tetracyanoquinodimethane sandwiched by crossed carbon nanotube electrodes

We report herein a method to fabricate an electrical switch device in which two crossed carbon nanotubes (CNTs) serve as electrode contacts and Ag-tetracyanoquinodimethane (AgTCNQ) is embedded into the crossed point functions as the electrical bistable medium. To fabricate this device, an electrodeposition method is used to grow AgTCNQ particles along a CNT, and then the top CNT is placed intersectionally over the former tube wrapped with AgTCNQ. The device shows typical switching performance with an on/off ratio up to 10(3). The excellent electrical properties and nanoscale diameter of CNTs of this device show promising applications in the integrations of CNT nanoelectronics. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.Physics, AppliedSCI(E)9ARTICLE12null9