US Patent 7728332 - Nanotube array ballistic LED

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7728333.html

Ballistic transport is a property of single walled carbon nanotubes which results in low electrical resistance due to lack of electron scattering. So far this property has been suggested mostly for transistor designs. However, this patent from Nano-Electronic and Photonic Devices and Circuits, LLC teaches an LED construction using the ballistic electron transport of nanotubes. Claim 1 reads:

1. The nanotube array ballistic light emitting diode, comprised of the following components:

dielectric substrate;

first layer of metal with high optical reflectivity deposited on said substrate;

array of small pads of metal having low resistive contact to the nanotube and deposited on said first layer of metal;

array of carbon nanotubes grown normally to the substrate plane on said array of small pads of metal having low resistive contact to the nanotubes;

dielectric film covering the nanotubes, said dielectric film being thinner than the height of the nanotubes, so that after deposition of said dielectric film the ends of said carbon nanotubes protrude beyond said dielectric film;

second, optically transparent conductive electrode deposited on the exposed nanotube tips, said nanotube tips becoming exposed after preliminary polishing the surface of said dielectric film and thus removing protruded nanotube ends.