Electron-phonon and electron-defect scattering rates in semiconducting zigzag carbon nanotubes

The electron transport properties of single walled carbon nanotubes are of fundamental importance for the development of carbon based nanotechnology. Carbon nanotubes can display both chemical and structural defects, which affect electronic states near the Fermi level. This is further complicated by the fact that the concentration of defects depends upon the method of synthesis. In this work, we have investigated both electron-phonon and electron-defect scattering in semiconducting zigzag carbon nanotubes by calculating and analyzing the quantum-mechanical scattering rates for these processes. One objective of this work is to give a theoretical limit for the concentration of defects at which electron-defect scattering rates would be comparable to the electron-phonon scattering rates.