Using low-resistance electrical contacts, we have measured the intrinsic high-field transport properties of metallic single-wall carbon nanotubes. Individual nanotubes appear to be able to carry currents with a density exceeding 10^9 A/cm^2. As the bias voltage is increased, the conductance drops dramatically due to scattering of electrons. We show that the current-voltage characteristics can be explained by considering optical or zone-boundary phonon emission as the dominant scattering mechanism at high field.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/9911186,
title = {High-Field Electrical Transport in Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes},
author = {Zhen Yao and Charles L. Kane and Cees Dekker},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/9911186},
year = {2009}
}