Large negative differential resistance in graphene nanoribbon superlattices

A graphene nanoribbon superlattice with a large negative differential resistance (NDR) is proposed. Our results show that the peak-to-valley ratio (PVR) of the graphene superlattices can reach 21 at room temperature with bias voltages between 90–220 mV, which is quite large compared with the one of traditional graphene-based devices. It is found that the NDR is strongly influenced by the thicknesses of the potential barrier. Therefore, the NDR effect can be optimized by designing a proper barrier thickness. The large NDR effect can be attributed to the splitting of the gap in transmission spectrum (segment of Wannier–Stark ladder) with larger thicknesses of barrier when the applied voltage increases.