A Theoretical and Numerical Study on Percolation Mechanism of Carbon Nanotube Network

In this paper, a theoretical and Monte-Carlo analysis on the percolation behavior of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) network is proposed. For such network structures that are commonly used as the conduction channels of thin-film transistors (TFTs), the dependence of channel resistance on channel length, tube density, and average tube length is carefully studied. The tube-tube contact resistance is proved dominant (about 98%) on the whole channel. An accurate analytical dependence of channel resistance on average tube length and density is found through mathematical analysis. The simulation work is implemented using MATLAB and HSPICE, in which a specific trimming algorithm is developed to iteratively cut off all useless branches and provide the real percolation paths. All the simulation results agree well with the theoretical expression.Shenzhen competitive research [KQCX20130628093909155]; National Nature Science Foundation of China [61504004]CPCI-S(ISTP)wenlei@sz.pku.edu.cn; zhangm@ece.pku.edu.cn959-96