Energy Band-Gap Engineering of Graphene Nanoribbons

Abstract

We investigate electronic transport in lithographically patterned graphene ribbon structures where the lateral confinement of charge carriers creates an energy gap near the charge neutrality point. Individual graphene layers are contacted with metal electrodes and patterned into ribbons of varying widths and different crystallographic orientations. The temperature dependent conductance measurements show larger energy gaps opening for narrower ribbons. The sizes of these energy gaps are investigated by measuring the conductance in the nonlinear response regime at low temperatures. We find that the energy gap scales inversely with the ribbon width, thus demonstrating the ability to engineer the band gap of graphene nanostructures by lithographic processes.

Keywords

Materials scienceGrapheneRibbonBand gapCondensed matter physicsGraphene nanoribbonsConductanceElectrodeNanostructureOptoelectronicsElectronic band structureNanotechnologyPhysicsComposite material

Affiliated Institutions

Columbia University US

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Publication Info

Year: 2007
Type: article
Volume: 98
Issue: 20
Pages: 206805-206805
Citations: 5120
Access: Closed

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APA Style

                            
                                
                                    Melinda Han, 
                                
                                    Barbaros Özyilmaz, 
                                
                                    Yuanbo Zhang
                                
                                et al.
                            
                            (2007). 
                            Energy Band-Gap Engineering of Graphene Nanoribbons. 
                            Physical Review Letters
                            , 98
                            (20)
                            , 206805-206805.
                            https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.98.206805
                        

Identifiers

DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.98.206805