Electrical transport in single-walled carbon nanotube bundles embedded in Langmuir-Blodgett monolayers

Langmuir films consisting of single-walled carbon nanotubes and surfactant molecules were deposited on substrates with Lithographically defined electr ode arrays. Atomic force microscopy revealed a different matrix structure o f the Langmuir-Blodgett monolayers compared to monolayers on bare substrate s. Electrical transport measurements were performed on individual thin bund les at room temperature and 4.2 K. At low temperatures, the current/voltage characteristics show a non-linear dependence with step-like features, whic h are critically discussed in the frame of Coulomb charging theory and elec tron tunneling through discrete energy levels. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S. A. All rights reserved.