Many nanoscale electrical sensors, actuators, and transducers operate in an electrically linear fashion, while almost all multi-transistor nanoscale circuits developed and explored in the literature are digital. Further, most multi-transistor nanoscale circuits employ a single nanotube for each transistor, an unscalable situation that is difficult to fabricate. NRI\u2019s work shows how to make differential amplifiers, and from these operation amplifier circuits, all on a single carbon\/graphene nanotube or nanoribbon, by using a novel \u201cchain-leapfrog\u201d circuit design technique. It is shown that standard differential amplifier and operation amplifier circuit configurations are naturally implementable with this technique. Part of the \u201cchain-leapfrog\u201d technique involves fully-nanoscale single (FET) nano-transistor constant-current sources at power-supply nodes, which allows for \u201csewing\u201d alternating positive and negative power supply rails across a single carbon\/graphene nanotube or nanoribbon and consecutively interconnected transistors (\u201cchaining) with other interconnection paths among metalized pads (\u201cleap-frogging\u201d). Accordingly, a single carbon\/graphene nanotube or nanoribbon can be draped over a metalized pad contact array to make operational amplifiers, comparators, and even A\/D and D\/A converters. The same technique can be used with printed semiconductor electronics on a far larger physical scale. CAD-based design tools and circuit library systems can be developed that automate and institutionalize contact-array configurations and the \u201cchain-leapfrog\u201d circuit topology technique. Optoelectronic properties of carbon\/graphene nanotubes and nanoribbons were also included in this work. NRI’s early patent work in the area of nanoelectronic differential amplifiers and related circuits implemented on a segment of a graphene nanoribbon was cited in the survey book “Fullerenes\u2014Advances in Research and Application: 2013 Edition” (ISBN 1490100199, 9781490100197) pp.707-708.<\/p>\n
\nNRI\u2019s original work with different amplifiers was done in 2007 and included explicit designs for fully-nanoscale single (FET) nano-transistor constant-current sources. Several years later Army ARL Technical Report ARL-TR-5151 \u201cDifferential Amplifier Circuits Based on Carbon Nanotube Field Effect Transistors (CNTFETs)\u201d by M. Chin and S. Kilpatrick<\/a> was published (April 2010). This Army ARL work did not employ an active constant-current source, instead using a resistor which limits performance (as stated in the report, and a known property of any two-transistor differential amplifier).<\/p>\n