The effect of Holstein phonons on the electrical conductivity of doped monolayer graphene

Electrical conductivity of graphene sheets is studied in the presence of coupling between lattice optical vibrations and electrons. Green's function approach is implemented to find the temperature behavior of electrical conductivity. Moreover, the effect of electronic doping on the electrical conductivity of graphene with electron–phonon interaction is investigated. Our results show that electrical conductivity increases as a function of temperature at low temperature and gets a maximum value and then decays at high temperature.     

Fracture analysis of monolayer graphene sheets with double vacancy defects via MD simulation

Carbon nanostructures such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene sheets have attracted great attention due to their exceptionally high strength and elastic strain. These extraordinary mechanical properties, however, can be affected by the presence of defects in their structures. When a material contains multiple defects, it is expected that the stress concentration of them superposes if the separation distances of the defects are low, which causes a more reduction of the strength. On the other hand, it is believed that if the defects are far enough such that their affected areas are distinct, their behavior is similar to a material with single defect. In this article, molecular dynamics (MD) is used to explore the influence of separation distance of double vacancy defects on the mechanical properties of single-layered graphene sheets (SLGSs). To this end, critical stress and strain of SLGSs containing double vacancy with different distances are determined and the results are compared with those of perfect SLGSs and graphene sheets with single vacancy defect. The results reveal that the ultimate strength of the SLGS with double vacancy tends to the one with a single vacancy when the separation distance becomes further. In this regard, the threshold distance beyond which double defects behave like a single one is examined. Finally, Young’s modulus of perfect, single and double vacancy defected graphene sheets with different separation distances is determined. It is concluded that this property is slightly affected by the separation distance.     

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.     

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.     

The transport properties of Dirac fermions in chemical vapour-deposited single-layer graphene

Abstract

The electronic transport properties of Dirac fermions in chemical vapour-deposited single-layer epitaxial graphene on anSiO₂/Si substrate have been investigated using the Shubnikov–de Haas (SdH) oscillations technique. The magnetoresistance measurements were performed in the temperature range between 1.8 and 43 K and at magnetic fields up to 11 T. The 2D carrier density and the Fermi energy have been determined from the period of the SdH oscillations. In addition, the in-plane effective mass as well as the quantum lifetime of 2D carriers have been calculated from the temperature and magnetic field dependences of the SdH oscillation amplitude. The sheet carrier density (1.42 × 10¹³ cm^?2 at 1.8 K), obtained from the low-field Hall Effect measurements, is larger than that of 2D carrier density (8.13 × 10¹² cm^?2). On the other hand, the magnetoresistance includes strong magnetic field dependent positive, non-oscillatory background magnetoresistance. The strong magnetic field dependence of the magnetoresistance and the differences between sheet carrier and 2D carrier density can be attributed to the 3D carriers between the graphene sheet and the SiO₂/Si substrate.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Surface potentials of few-layer graphene films in high vacuum and ambient conditions

The surface potentials of few-layer graphene (FLG) films in high vacuum and ambient conditions have been investigated by employing electrostatic force microscopy. It is found that the surface potential of FLG films in ambient air has a constant large depression compared to that measured in a high vacuum. Our experimental results indicate that the shift is most likely caused by the presence of ambient adsorbates on the outmost graphene surfaces. The surface potentials increase with the number of graphene layers and approach the bulk value for five or more graphene layers in high vacuum as well as in ambient air. Since the contribution of the surface adsorbates is a constant value, we further show that the thickness dependence of the surface potential can be sufficiently explained by the nonlinear Thomas-Fermi Theory in both conditions.     

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.     

铜管表面水合物晶体生长特性研究

实验研究了浓度分别为5 wt%、15 wt%、20 wt%、30 wt%的四丁基溴化铵(TBAB)溶液在外径为21mm的铜管外表面的结晶特性.实验首先以15 wt%TBAB溶液为例,观察其降温结晶过程,得到了TBAB水合物晶体在不同阶段生长的特征.然后对不同浓度、不同过冷度条件下的TBAB溶液进行降温结晶实验,观察并测...     

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.     

Scanning probe microscopy investigations of the electrical properties of chemical vapor deposited graphene grown on a 6H-SiC substrate

Sublimated graphene grown on SiC is an attractive material for scientific investigations. Nevertheless the self limiting process on the Si face and its sensitivity to the surface quality of the SiC substrates may be unfavourable for later microelectronic processes. On the other hand, chemical vapor deposited (CVD) graphene does not posses such disadvantages, so further experimental investigation is needed. In this paper CVD grown graphene on 6H-SiC (0 0 0 1) substrate was investigated using scanning probe microscopy (SPM). Electrical properties of graphene were characterized with the use of: scanning tunnelling microscopy, conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) with locally performed C-AFM current–voltage measurements and Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM). Based on the contact potential difference data from the KPFM measurements, the work function of graphene was estimated. We observed conductance variations not only on structural edges, existing surface corrugations or accidental bilayers, but also on a flat graphene surface.     

First-principles studies of graphene antidot lattices on monolayer h-BN substrate

The structures and electronic structures of hetero bilayers composed of graphene antidot lattice (GAL) on monolayer h-BN substrate are studied in first-principles method. Bond lengths, interlayer distances, flatness, biaxial strain effects, and effects of translating the GAL layer are studied and analyzed in detail. Results show that introducing a monolayer BN substrate makes the zero-bandgap $5\times 5$ GAL open a bandgap up to 28 meV, while it makes the semiconducting $6\times 6$ GAL keep its low-energy electronic structure almost intact except a small bandgap change by tens of meV at most. Our studies demonstrate that h-BN is a promising substrate for GAL.     

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.     

Effect of copper surface morphology on grain size uniformity of graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition

The graphene grain boundaries (GGBs) of polycrystalline graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) typically constitute a major reason of deterioration of the electrical properties of graphene-based devices. To reduce the density of GGB by increasing the grain size, CVD growth conditions with a reduced CH₄ flow rate have been widely applied and, recently, electropolishing of copper (Cu) foil substrates to flatten the surface has been undertaken prior to graphene growth. In this study, we show that polycrystalline graphene layer grown on typical Cu foil features two heterogeneous regions with different average grain sizes: small-grain regions (SGRs) and large-grain regions (LGRs). Statistical analysis of the grains of the graphene layers grown under different process conditions showed that SGRs (which form on Cu striations) limit the average grain size, the ability to control the grain size through adjustment of growth conditions, and global grain-size uniformity. Analysis showed that the surface-flattening process significantly improves grain-size uniformity, and monolayer coverage, as well as the average grain size. These results suggest that a process for flattening the surfaces of Cu substrates is critical to controlling the quality and uniformity of CVD-grown graphene layers for practical device applications.     

Electronic properties of grains and grain boundaries in graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition

We synthesize hexagonal shaped single-crystal graphene, with edges parallel to the zig-zag orientations, by ambient pressure CVD on polycrystalline Cu foils. We measure the electronic properties of such grains as well as of individual graphene grain boundaries, formed when two grains merged during the growth. The grain boundaries are visualized using Raman mapping of the D band intensity, and we show that individual boundaries between coalesced grains impede electrical transport in graphene and induce prominent weak localization, indicative of intervalley scattering in graphene.