Remote joule heating assisted carrier transport in MWCNTs probed at nanosecond time scale

Abstract

Quantum model of joule heating relies on electron–phonon scattering in the high field region (hot side contact), which locally increases phonon population and forms hot spots. Hot spots in the high field region are known to suffer carrier transport. In this work, for the first time we report remote joule heating of the cold side contact, i.e. zero electric field region, through multi-walled CNTs (MWCNTs), which is discovered to assist in carrier transport through the MWCNT channels. To precisely capture the dynamics of remote joule heating assisted carrier transport, MWCNTs are probed at nanosecond time scales. This leverages investigations at time scales comparable to characteristic thermal diffusion times and allows electron–phonon interactions and the nature of carrier transport to be probed under non-equilibrium conditions.