Abstract This study examines the electrostatic discharge (ESD) reliability of local-bottom-gate carbon nanotube (CNT) field-effect transistors (FETs) fabricated with randomly distributed networks. Transmission line pulsing (TLP) and very-fast TLP (VFTLP) techniques have been used for characterization. The devices show bidirectional ESD responses governed by distinct conduction mechanisms. Transient waveform analysis combined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM)/transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging reveals that thermal effects dominate the breakdown process. The maximum destructive second failure current reaches 0.25 mA/µm under the human body model conditions and 0.8 mA/µm under the charged device model conditions. This work establishes a quantitative benchmark for the ESD performance of CNT FETs, clarifies the intrinsic failure mechanisms, and demonstrates that structural modifications can improve robustness. These findings provide guidance for the design of CNT-based devices with improved reliability and lay the groundwork for their integration into future electronic systems.
Zhuang et al. (Tue,) studied this question.