Electroluminescence from individual single-wall carbon nanotube transistors and suspended films

We performed electroluminescence experiments in the near infrared from individual single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) transistors and from suspended films of bulk SWNT. For SWNT transistors, we observed that the light emission intensity and the drain voltage (at constant current) follow a similar behavior during a gate voltage sweep. Also, the electroluminescence spectra for those devices present multi-peaks. The results are discussed using a simple electron-hole pair recombination mechanism and generation of heat. For thick (100-500 nm) and suspended films of SWNT, the light emission spectra present a shape that fits well with the Planck's law. This well-known spectral shape allows us to extract the temperature of the film as a function of the input power.