Fundamental Transmitting Properties of Carbon Nanotube Antennas

G.W. Hanson
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53211

Introduction
Since the discovery of carbon nanotubes in 1991 [1], there has been an enormous amount of research
into their fundamental properties. Roughly speaking, a single-wall carbon nanotube (SVVNT) is
a rolled-up sheet of graphene (i.e., a mono-atomic layer of graphite), having a radius of a few
nanometers, and lengths (so far) up to centimeters [2].
Atomically, graphene has the honeycomb structure shown in Fig. 1, where the small circles
denote the location of carbon atoms [3]. Lattice basis vectors are a, and a2, as shown, and the
relative position vector is R = ma1 + na2, where m, n are integers. A carbon nanotube can be
formed by wrapping the graphene sheet into a cylinder.

Fig. 1. Graphene sheet. Circles denote the positions of carbon atoms.

Obviously, the cylinder can be formed by wrapping the sheet along any preferred axis, and
different properties are obtained for different orientations Thus, carbon nanotubes can be charac-
terized by the dual index (m, n), where here we will consider the case m = n. For this case the
cross-sectional radius of a carbon nanotube is given by a = 3bm/ (27r) [3], where b = 0.142 am is
the interatomic distance in graphene.
Electrically, carbon nanotubes have fascinating properties. For example, they can be either
metallic or semiconducting, depending on their geometry (i.e., on m, n) [3], and can exhibit ballistic
transport.
In [4], carbon nanotube dipole antennas were considered based on a transmission-line model.
In this paper, fundamental properties of dipole antennas formed by carbon nanotubes will be
invqstigated using a Hallen's-type integral equation. The input impedance, radiation pattern, and

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current profiles will be presented, and compared to ordinary metallic antennas of the same size and
shape. Possible applications of carbon nanotube antennas will be discussed. The carbon nanotube
is accounted for using a semi-classical conductivity derived explicitly for infinite carbon nanotubes
[5]. At the frequencies of interest in this paper, this semi-classical conductivity is equivalent to the
more rigorous (and complicated) quantum mechanical conductivity also derived in [5]. Thus, the
integral equation method utilized here can be considered as a semi-classical technique, since the
quantum-mechanical nature of the CN conductivity is accounted for, yet the classical Maxwell's
equations are used. This formulation should be accurate through THz frequencies.

Formulation
We solve a Hallen-type integral equation based on
Jz (z, w) = o7zz (w) Ez (z, w), (1)
using [5]

2 2e 2VF
cn (w) = OZ- (w)
n(W)zz(w)~j
~-j2/ia (w -iv) (2)

for small radius carbon nanotubes (m < 50), where VF is the Fermi velocity, h is the reduced
Planck's constant, and v = r-1, where r is the relaxation time. As a comparison to (2), the
conductivity of a two-dimensional (infinitely-thin) metal cylinder is

0a2d (w) = -3 ( (3)

m2 w) e2N-jvd
where N2d is the number of elections per m2.
At this point it is instructive to consider in more detail the conductivities (2) and (3). Fig. 2
shows a plot of conductivity as a function of frequency for tubes with n = m = 40 (a = 2.712 nm),
and for a copper tube of radius a = 2.712 nm.

0.oe

0.04 CN, m=40

a- coppertube
0.03 _

0.02_ \

0.01. . \

0.00 ... .........- -.........;;;;;,

_s
-0.01-,
-0.02

-0.03
1000 200 300 400 500 Om 700 Boo 900 1000
Frequency (GHz)

Fig. 2. Conductivity (2) as a function of frequency for carbon nanotubes, m = 40 (a = 2.712 nm)
and copper tube having the same radius.

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 The carbon nanotube conductivity a,,, is on the same order of magnitude as the copper sheet
conductivity a2d, although ac,, is quite dispersive compared to a2d.

Results
The special nature of the carbon nanotube conductivity results in unique properties for carbon
nanotube antennas. First, it should be noted that nanoelectronic devices are inherently high
impedance, on the order of the resistance quantum, Ro = 12.9 kQ. Therefore, much as 50 ohms is
considered a standard reference impedance for macroscopic antennas, Ro can be taken as a standard
reference impedance for nano-antennas. In the following figures, input impedance values will be
normalized to Ro.
In Fig. 3 the normalized input impedance of a dipole having half-length L = 10 Om is shown.
Also shown are the results for a copper tube of the same dimensions. As expected, the copper tube
dipole does not resonate in this frequency range (it would resonate at F = 15, 000 GHz).

12 20
Dots: Copper Tube
No Dots: Carbon Nanotube
L=10 um 10

. 0..::.~~. ......

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-0
R ~~~~~~~~~N

0 ~~ ~ ~ ~ 4 00707040 00
....
9 100-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~20
o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ o

2 .30

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Frequency (GHz)

Fig. 3. Input impedance for a carbon nanotube dipole antenna, m = 40 (a = 2.712 nm), L = 10
pm.

Unlike the copper dipole, the L = 10 ftm carbon nanotube dipole does resonant in the considered
frequency range. This can be explained by the transmission line model developed in [4], where the
propagation velocity on the antenna was found to be v 3VF (taken here to be 9.7 x 105 m/s
for CNs [5J). As can be seen from Fig. 3, the first resonance of the L = 10 pm carbon nanotube
antenna is at F 160 GHz. The current distribution at this frequency is approximately a half-wave
sinusoid, and thus 2L = Ap/2, or Ap = 4L = 40 1um. Setting v = ApF, we obtain v = 0.0213c
at F = 160 GHz. Thus, whereas a perfectly-conducting metal dipole having half-length L = 10
tsm would be expected to resonate at F = 7,500 GHz, the same length carbon nanotube antenna
resonates at F = 160 GHz.

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References
[1] Iijima, I. (1991). "Helical microtubules of graphitic carbon," Nature, v. 354, pp. 56-58.
[21 Li, S., Z. Yu, C. Rutherglan, and P.J. Burke (2004). "Electrical properties of 0.4 cm long single-walled
carbon nanotubes," Nano Letters, v. 4, pp. 2003-2007.
[3] Saito, R., G. Dresselhaus, and M.S. Dresselhaus (2003). Physical Properties of Carbon Nanotubes,
Imperial College Press: London.

[4] Burke, P.J., S. Li, and Z. Yu (2005). "Quantitative theory of nanowire and nanotube antenna
performance," submitted to IEEE Trans. Nanotechnol. Available at http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/cond-
mat/0408418.
[5] Maksimenko, S.A., G.Y. Slepyan, A. Lakhtakia, 0. Yevtushenko, and A.V. Gusakov (1999). "Electrody-
namics of carbon nanotubes: Dynamic conductivity, impedance boundary conditions, and surface wave
propagation," Phys. Rev. B, v. 60, pp. 17136-17149, Dec.

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