Individual semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) of various diameters are studied by electrical measurements. Transport through a semiconducting SWNT involves thermal activation at high temperatures, and tunneling through a reverse biased metal–tube junction at low temperatures. Under high bias voltages, current–voltage (I–V) characteristics of semiconducting SWNTs exhibit pronounced asymmetry with respect to the bias polarity, as a result of local gating. SWNT transistors that mimic conventional p-metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor with similar I–V characteristics and high transconductance are enabled.

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