Conduction in carbon nanotubes through metastable resonant states

Abstract

We report here on electrical measurements on individual multi-walled carbon nanotubes that show that the presence or movement of impurities or defects in the carbon nanotube can radically change its low-temperature transport characteristics. The low-temperature conductance can either decrease monotonically with decreasing temperature, or show a sudden increase at very low temperatures, sometimes in the same sample at different times. This unusual behavior of the temperature dependence of the conductance is correlated with large variations in the differential conductance as a function of the dc voltage across the wire. The effect is well described as arising from quantum interference of conduction channels corresponding to direct transmission through the nanotube and resonant transmission through a discrete electron state, the so-called Fano resonance.