Transmission through biased graphene strip

We solve the 2D Dirac equation describing graphene in the presence of a linear vector potential. The discretization of the transverse momentum due to the infinite mass boundary condition reduced our 2D Dirac equation to an effective massive 1D Dirac equation with an effective mass equal to the quantized transverse momentum. We use both a numerical Poincaré map approach, based on space discretization of the original Dirac equation, and a direct analytical method. These two approaches have been used to study tunneling phenomena through a biased graphene strip. The numerical results generated by the Poincaré map are in complete agreement with the analytical results.     

Scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy study of charge inhomogeneities in bilayer graphene

We report a room-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy study of bilayer graphene prepared by mechanical exfoliation on a SiO₂/Si surface and electrically contacted with gold pads using a mechanical mask. The bulk conductivity shows contributions from regions of varying electron density, indicating significant charge inhomogeneity. Large-scale topographic images show ripple-like structures with a roughness of ∼1 nm, while the small-scale atomic resolution images show graphite-like triangular lattices. The local () tunnel spectra have an asymmetric V-shape with the minima location showing significant spatial variation, indicating inhomogeneity in electron density of order 10¹¹ cm⁻². The minimum in spectrum at a fixed location also shifts linearly with the gate voltage with a slope consistent with the field-induced carrier density.     

Nonvolatile unipolar resistive switching in ultrathin films of graphene and carbon nanotubes

We report unipolar resistive switching in ultrathin films of chemically produced graphene (reduced graphene oxide) and multiwalled carbon nanotubes. The two-terminal devices with yield >99% are made at room temperature by forming continuous films of graphene of thickness ∼20 nm on indium tin oxide coated glass electrode, followed by metal (Au or Al) deposition on the film. These memory devices are nonvolatile, rewritable with ON/OFF ratios up to ∼ 10⁵ and switching times up to 10 μs. The devices made of MWNT films are rewritable with ON/OFF ratios up to ∼400. The resistive switching mechanism is proposed to be nanogap formation and filamentary conduction paths.     

Vacuum-annealed Cu contacts for graphene electronics

We present transfer length method measurements of the contact resistance between Cu and graphene, and a method to significantly reduce the contact resistance by vacuum annealing. Even in samples with heavily contaminated contacts, the contacts display very low contact resistance post annealing. Due to the common use of Cu, and its low chemical reactivity with graphene, thermal annealing will be important for future graphene devices requiring non-perturbing contacts with low contact resistance.     

Engineering and metrology of epitaxial graphene

Here we review the concepts and technologies, in particular photochemical gating, which contributed to the recent progress in quantum Hall resistance metrology based on large scale epitaxial graphene on silicon carbide.     

Manifestation of LO-LA phonons in Raman scattering in graphene

We analyze the spectral density of Raman scattering in graphene accompanied by the emission of a pair of LO or LA phonons from the corner of the Brillouin zone. Using a minimal tight-binding model approach, we find that the lineshape of the corresponding Raman signal consists of two peaks with a strongly non-Lorentzian (almost triangular) form with their width and the splitting between the peaks being strongly dependent on the energy of the incoming photon. The asymmetric lineshape is determined by the kinematics of the fully-resonant two-phonon process, and it reflects a strong anisotropy of LO-LA phonons’ dispersion around the Brillouin zone corners.     

Transport in suspended graphene

Motivated by recent experiments on suspended graphene showing carrier mobilities as high as 200,000 cm²/V s, we theoretically calculate transport properties assuming Coulomb impurities as the dominant scattering mechanism. We argue that the substrate-free experiments done in the diffusive regime are consistent with our theory and verify many of our earlier predictions including (i) removal of the substrate will increase mobility since most of the charged impurities are in the substrate, (ii) the minimum conductivity is not universal, but depends on impurity concentration with cleaner samples having a higher minimum conductivity. We further argue that experiments on suspended graphene put strong constraints on the two parameters involved in our theory, namely, the charged impurity concentration and d, the typical distance of a charged impurity from the graphene sheet. The recent experiments on suspended graphene indicate a residual impurity density of which are presumably stuck to the graphene interface, compared to impurity densities of for graphene on SiO₂ substrate. Transport experiments can therefore be used as a spectroscopic tool to identify the properties of the remaining impurities in suspended graphene.     

Nanoscale formation mechanism of conducting filaments in NiO thin films

We have studied the nanoscale electrical properties of NiO thin films by using conducting atomic force microscopy (CAFM) to understand the mechanism of resistance change of the NiO thin films as we changed the applied voltage. We observed that inhomogeneous conducting filaments were generated by external voltage bias; in addition, some of the inhomogeneous conducting filaments were durable while some of them were not, and they disappeared. We deduced that the resistance change of the NiO thin films was related to inhomogeneous filamentary conducting paths generated by both Ni ions in thermodynamically unstable NiO and the existence of conducting filament segments generated by high voltage bias.     

Electronic and magnetic properties of copper-family-element atom adsorbed graphene nanoribbons with zigzag edges

We have investigated the electronic and magnetic properties of copper-family-element (CFE) atom adsorbed graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) with zigzag edges using first-principles calculations based on density functional theory. We found that CFE atoms energetically prefer to be adsorbed at the edges of nanoribbons. Charges are transferred between the CFE atom and carbon atoms at the edge, which reduce the local magnetic moment of carbon atoms in the vicinity of adsorption site and change the electronic structure of GNRs. As a result, Cu adsorbed zigzag GNR is a semiconductor with energy band gap of 0.88 eV in beta-spin and energy gap of 0.22 eV in alpha-spin, while Ag adsorbed zigzag GNR and Au adsorbed zigzag GNR are both half-metallic with the energy gaps of 0.68 eV and 0.63 eV in beta-spin, respectively. These results show that CFE atom adsorbed zigzag GNRs can be applied in nanoelectronics and spintronics.     

Surface adhesion properties of graphene and graphene oxide studied by colloid-probe atomic force microscopy

Surface adhesion properties are important to various applications of graphene-based materials. Atomic force microscopy is powerful to study the adhesion properties of samples by measuring the forces on the colloidal sphere tip as it approaches and retracts from the surface. In this paper we have measured the adhesion force between the colloid probe and the surface of graphene (graphene oxide) nanosheet. The results revealed that the adhesion force on graphene and graphene oxide surface were 66.3 and 170.6 nN, respectively. It was found the adhesion force was mainly determined by the water meniscus, which was related to the surface contact angle of samples.     

Topological confinement effect of edge potentials in zigzag-edge graphene nanoribbons under a staggered bulk potential

We have investigated topological confinement effects of edge potentials on gapless edge states in zigzag-edge graphene nanoribbons (ZGNRs) under a staggered bulk potential. A variety of gapless edge states were predicted with the concept of topological confinement effect alone, which was confirmed by using tight-binding model calculations. Half-metallicity of ZGNR, which has been semiclassically described, was revealed to fundamentally result from a topological confinement effect. Edge potentials were found to allow an infinitesimal staggered bulk potential to result in gapless edge states, regardless of the ribbon width. A uniform or staggered potential applied to the boundary region narrower than a critical width was found to play a role of the edge potentials, and the critical width was estimated.     

Singular orbital magnetism of graphene

The origin of the singular diamagnetic susceptibility at the Dirac point is probed through the study of effects of band-gap opening and spatially varying magnetic field. In the presence of a band gap, the susceptibility is nonzero only inside the band gap and exhibits a discrete jump at the band edges down to zero in the conduction and valence bands. The jump height is understood in terms of the pseudo-spin paramagnetism arising from valley degree of freedom. In spatially varying magnetic field with wave vector q, the susceptibility becomes nonzero only in a finite energy region containing the Dirac point, determined by q. This behavior is understood in terms of electronic states numerically calculated in periodic magnetic field.     

The enigma of the quantum Hall effect in graphene

We apply Laughlin’s gauge argument to analyze the ν=0 quantum Hall effect observed in graphene when the Fermi energy lies near the Dirac point, and conclude that this necessarily leads to divergent bulk longitudinal resistivity in the zero temperature thermodynamic limit. We further predict that in a Corbino geometry measurement, where edge transport and other mesoscopic effects are unimportant, one should find the longitudinal conductivity vanishing in all graphene samples which have an underlying ν=0 quantized Hall effect. We argue that this ν=0 graphene quantum Hall state is qualitatively similar to the high field insulating phase (also known as the Hall insulator) in the lowest Landau level of ordinary semiconductor two-dimensional electron systems. We establish the necessity of having a high magnetic field and high mobility samples for the observation of the divergent resistivity as arising from the existence of disorder-induced density inhomogeneity at the graphene Dirac point.     

Influence of copper crystal surface on the CVD growth of large area monolayer graphene

We study the influence of the surface structure of copper single crystals on the growth of large area monolayer graphene by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) in ultra-high vacuum (UHV). Using atomic-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), we find that graphene grows primarily in registry with the underlying copper lattice for both Cu(111) and Cu(100). The graphene has a hexagonal superstructure on Cu(111) with a significant electronic component,whereas it has a linear superstructure on Cu(100). Graphene on Cu(111) forms a microscopically uniform sheet, the quality of which is determined by the presence of grain boundaries where graphene grains with different orientations meet. Graphene grown on Cu(100) under similar conditions does not form a uniform sheet and instead displays exposed nanoscale edges. Our results indicate the importance of the copper crystal structure on the microstructure of graphene films produced by CVD.     

Investigation of the influence on graphene by using electron-beam and photo-lithography

The changes in Raman spectra of graphene flakes after lithography processing are systematically investigated. It is found that substantial changes in the intensity of several Raman peaks are observed after lithography processes involving electron-sensitive and photon-sensitive resists. This finding is related to the generation of disorder and introduction of impurities in the graphene flakes. It is observed that the disorder induced after spin coating PMMA resist on the graphene flakes cannot be removed by acetone but can be eliminated by means of an annealing process. The use of the AZ6624 photo-sensitive resist produces Raman changes typical for amorphization. When using this resist, the disorder-induced changes in the Raman spectra persist even after the same annealing process, implying that the contamination caused by the used photo-sensitive resist is more difficult to eliminate. The present results emphasize the important role played by the lithography process, often taken for granted, in the physical properties of graphene.     

Bonding character of lithium atoms adsorbed on a graphene layer

This work uses first-principles calculations to investigate the aspects of the bonding character of lithium atoms adsorbed on a graphene layer. The presented results are in contradiction to other results that have recently appeared in the specialized literature, although they confirm some previous claims. In particular, a discussion of the characteristics of the bonding between lithium and carbon atoms and whether they interact via an sp² or an sp³ hybridization is intended to clarify the problem. It is also found that the carbon-lithium bond is not purely covalent but instead presents a significant ionic character. The local geometry is governed by the π-acceptor character of lithium atoms which occupy reverse positions relative to the carbon atoms as compared to the positions of hydrogen in graphane.     

Optical properties and adhesion of air oxidized vacuum evaporated bismuth thin films

Highly adhesive bismuth oxide thin films on glass have been prepared by air oxidation of vacuum evaporated bismuth thin films at various temperatures. The transmittance, optical band gap, refractive index and adhesion show temperature and oxidation time effects. The films show a direct band gap between 2 and 2.5 eV. The refractive indices are in the range 1.854-1.991. The transmittances of the bismuth oxide films are quite high in a large wavelength range. These bismuth oxide films can have potential use in optical waveguides.     

Acoustic plasmons and composite hole-acoustic plasmon satellite bands in graphene on a metal gate

We demonstrate that single-layer graphene in the presence of a metal gate displays a gapless collective (plasmon) mode that has a linear dispersion at long wavelengths. We calculate exactly the acoustic-plasmon group velocity at the level of the random phase approximation and carry out microscopic calculations of the one-body spectral function of such systems. Despite screening exerted by the metal, we find that graphene’s quasiparticle spectrum displays a very rich structure characterized by composite hole-acoustic plasmon satellite bands (that we term for brevity “soundarons”), which can be observed by e.g. angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy.     

Band topology and the quantum spin Hall effect in bilayer graphene

We consider bilayer graphene in the presence of spin-orbit coupling, in order to assess its behavior as a topological insulator. The first Chern number n for the energy bands of single-layer graphene and that for the energy bands of bilayer graphene are computed and compared. It is shown that for a given valley and spin, n for a Bernal-stacked bilayer is doubled with respect to that for the monolayer. This implies that this form of bilayer graphene will have twice as many edge states as single-layer graphene, which we confirm with numerical calculations and analytically in the case of an armchair terminated surface. Bernal-stacked bilayer graphene is a weak topological insulator, whose surface spectrum is susceptible to gap opening under spin-mixing perturbations. We assess the stability of the associated topological bulk state of bilayer graphene under various perturbations. In contrast, we show that AA-stacked bilayer graphene is not a topological insulator unless the spin-orbit coupling is bigger than the interlayer hopping. Finally, we consider an intermediate situation in which only one of the two layers has spin-orbit coupling, and find that although individual valleys have non-trivial Chern numbers for the case of Bernal stacking, the spectrum as a whole is not gapped, so the system is not a topological insulator.     

Structural stability and electronic properties of Ni-doped armchair graphene nanoribbons

The size dependent electronic properties of armchair graphene nanoribbons (AGNR) with Ni doped atoms have been investigated using spin-unrestricted density functional theory. We predict antiferromagnetic (AFM) ground states for Ni-termination and one edge Ni-doping. The computed formation energy reveals that one edge Ni-terminated AGNR are energetically more favourable as compared to pristine ribbons. One edge substitutional doping is energetically more favourable as compared to centre doping by ∼1 eV whereas both edge doping is unfavourable. The bond length of substitutional Ni atoms is shorter than that of Ni adsorption in GNR, implying a stronger binding for substitutional Ni atoms. It is evident that binding energy is also affected by the coordination number of the foreign atom. The results show that Ni-interaction perturbs the electronic structure of the ribbons significantly, causing enhanced metallicity for all configurations irrespective of doping site. The band structures reveal the separation of spin up and down electronic states indicating towards the existence of spin polarized current in Ni-terminated and one edge doped ribbons. Our calculation predicts that AGNR containing Ni impurities can play an important role for the fabrication of spin filters and spintronic devices.