A single point defect surrounded on either side by quasi-ballistic, semimetallic carbon nanotube is a nearly ideal system for investigating disorder in one-dimensional (1D) conductors and comparing experiment to theory. Here, individual single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) are investigated before and after the incorporation of single point defects. Transport and local Kelvin Probe force microscopy independently demonstrate high-resistance depletion regions over 1.0 μm wide surrounding one point defect in semimetallic SWNTs. Transport measurements show that conductance through such wide depletion regions occurs via a modified, 1D version of Poole-Frenkel field-assisted emission. Given the breadth of theory dedicated to the possible effects of disorder in 1D systems, it is surprising that a Poole-Frenkel mechanism appears to describe defect scattering and resistance in this semimetallic system.
Keywords: Carbon nanotube; Kelvin probe force microscopy; defect scattering; point defect.