We investigate the role of various structural nonidealities on the performance of armchair-edge graphene nanoribbon field effect transistors (GNRFETs). Our results show that edge roughness dilutes the chirality dependence often predicted by theory but absent experimentally. Instead, GNRs are classifiable into wide (semi-metallic) vs narrow (semiconducting) strips, defining thereby the building blocks for wide-narrow-wide all-graphene devices and interconnects.
Small bandgaps limit drain bias at the expense of band-to-band tunneling in GNRFETs. We outline the relation between device performance metrics and non-idealities such as width modulation, width dislocations and surface step, and non-ideality parameters such as roughness amplitude and correlation length.
We study the edge magnetization and the local density of states of chiral graphene nanoribbons using a π-orbital Hubbard model in the mean-field approximation. We show that the inclusion of a realistic next-nearest hopping term in the tight-binding Hamiltonian changes the graphene nanoribbons band structure significantly and affects its magnetic properties. We study the behavior of the edge magnetization upon departing from half filling as a function of the nanoribbon chirality and width. We find that the edge magnetization depends very weakly in the nanoribbon width, regardless of chirality a…
The integrated inplane growth of two dimensional materials with similar lattices, but distinct electrical properties, could provide a promising route to achieve integrated circuitry of atomic thickness. However, fabrication of edge specific GNR in the lattice of hBN still remains an enormous challenge for present approaches. Here we developed a two step growth method and successfully achieved sub 5 nm wide zigzag and armchair GNRs embedded in hBN, respectively. Further transport measurements reveal that the sub 7 nm wide zigzag GNRs exhibit openings of the band gap inversely proportional to th…
We show how hydrogenation of graphene nanoribbons at small concentrations can open new venues towards carbon-based spintronics applications regardless of any especific edge termination or passivation of the nanoribbons. Density functional theory calculations show that an adsorbed H atom induces a spin density on the surrounding $π$ orbitals whose symmetry and degree of localization depends on the distance to the edges of the nanoribbon. As expected for graphene-based systems, these induced magnetic moments interact ferromagnetically or antiferromagnetically depending on the relative adsorption…
We present an atomistic three-dimensional simulation of graphene nanoribbon field effect transistors (GNR-FETs), based on the self-consistent solution of the 3D Poisson and Schroedinger equation with open boundary conditions within the non-equilibrium Green's Function formalism and a tight-binding hamiltonian. With respect to carbon nanotube FETs, GNR-FETs exhibit comparable performance, reduced sensitivity on the variability of channel chirality, and similar leakage problems due to band-to-band tunneling. Acceptable transistor performance requires effective nanoribbon width of 1-2 nm, that co…
The thermoelectric power, including the Nernst and Seebeck effects, in graphene nanoribbon is studied. By using the non-equilibrium Green function combining with the tight-binding Hamiltonian, the Nernst and Seebeck coefficients are obtained. Due to the electron-hole symmetry, the Nernst coefficient is an even function of the Fermi energy while the Seebeck coefficient is an odd function regardless of the magnetic field. In the presence of a strong magnetic field, the Nernst and Seebeck coefficients are almost independent of the chirality and width of the nanoribbon, and they show peaks when th…
The universality of $k$-dependent electron-photon and electron-phonon matrix elements is discussed for graphene nanoribbons and carbon nanotubes. An electron undergoes a change in wavevector in the direction of broken translational symmetry, depending on the light polarization direction. We suggest that this phenomenon originates from a microscopic feature of chirality.
We report results on the Young's modulus (YM) of defect-free and defective silicene nanoribbons (SNRs) as a function of length and temperature. In this study, we perform molecular dynamics simulations using the Environment-Dependent Interatomic Potential (EDIP) to describe the interaction of the Si atoms. We find that the Young's modulus of pristine and defective SNRs increases with the ribbon length in both chirality directions. It is shown that the Young's modulus of defective SNRs exhibit a complex dependence on the combinations of vacancies. With respect to temperature, we find that YM for…
A central question in the field of graphene-related research is how graphene behaves when it is patterned at the nanometer scale with different edge geometries. Perhaps the most fundamental shape relevant to this question is the graphene nanoribbon (GNR), a narrow strip of graphene that can have different chirality depending on the angle at which it is cut. Such GNRs have been predicted to exhibit a wide range of behaviour (depending on their chirality and width) that includes tunable energy gaps and the presence of unique one-dimensional (1D) edge states with unusual magnetic structure. Most …
We have studied the thermal properties of bended graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) using nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. The thermal conductivity of bended GNRs shows a non-monotonous relationship with the bending angle, due to the influence of chirality and Kapitza conductance. When a constant heat flux is allowed to flow, sharp temperature jump is observed at the inside corner. On the basis of the magnitude of these jumps, we have computed the Kapitza conductance as a function of bending angles. Besides, modification of the inside corner is applied to change the ability of heat tran…
We investigate chiral graphene nanoribbons using projective quantum Monte Carlo simulations within the local Hubbard model description and study the effects of electron-electron interactions on the electronic and magnetic properties at the ribbon edges. Static and dynamical properties are analyzed for nanoribbons of varying width and edge chirality, and compared to a self-consistent Hartee-Fock mean-field approximation. Our results show that for chiral ribbons of sufficient width, the spin correlations exhibit exceedingly long correlation lengths, even between zigzag segments that are well sep…
We have used molecular dynamics to calculate the thermal conductivity of symmetric and asymmetric graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) of several nanometers in size (up to ~4 nm wide and ~10 nm long). For symmetric nanoribbons, the calculated thermal conductivity (e.g. ~2000 W/m-K @400K for a 1.5 nm {\times} 5.7 nm zigzag GNR) is on the similar order of magnitude of the experimentally measured value for graphene. We have investigated the effects of edge chirality and found that nanoribbons with zigzag edges have appreciably larger thermal conductivity than nanoribbons with armchair edges. For asymmetri…
Precise control over the size and shape of graphene nanostructures allows engineering spin-polarized edge and topological states, representing a novel source of non-conventional $π$-magnetism with promising applications in quantum spintronics. A prerequisite for their emergence is the existence of robust gapped phases, which are difficult to find in extended graphene systems: only armchair graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) show a band gap that, however, closes for any other GNR orientation. Here we show that semi-metallic chiral GNRs (chGNRs) narrowed down to nanometer widths undergoes a topological…
Black phosphorus is a material with an intrinsic anisotropy in electronic and optical properties due to its puckered honeycomb lattice. Optical absorption is different for incident light with linear polarization in the armchair and zigzag directions (linear dichroism). These directions are also used in the cuts of materials to create black phosphorus nanoribbons. Edges of nanoribbons usually have small reconstruction effects, with minor electronic effects. Here, we show a reconstruction of the armchair edge that introduces a new valence band, which flattens the puckered lattice and increases t…
We analyze the collective mode spectrum of graphene nanoribbons within the random phase approximation. In the undoped case, only metallic armchair nanoribbons support a propagating plasmon mode. Landau damping of this mode is shown to be suppressed through the chirality of the single particle wavefunctions. We argue that undoped zigzag nanoribbons should not support plasmon excitations because of a broad continuum of particle-hole excitations associated with surface states, into which collective modes may decay. Doped nanoribbons have properties similar to those of semiconductor nanowires, inc…
We review recent studies of coherent phonons (CPs) corresponding to the radial breathing mode (RBM) and G-mode in single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and graphene. Because of the bandgap-diameter relationship, RBM-CPs cause bandgap oscillations in SWCNTs, modulating interband transitions at terahertz frequencies. Interband resonances enhance CP signals, allowing for chirality determination. Using pulse shaping, one can selectively excite speci!c-chirality SWCNTs within an ensemble. G-mode CPs exhibit temperature-dependent dephasing via interaction with RBM phonons. Our microscopic theory der…
The thermal conductivity of graphene nanoribbons (layer from 1 to 8 atomic planes) is investigated by using the nonequilibrium molecular dynamics method. We present that the room-temperature thermal conductivity decays monotonically with the number of the layers in few-layer graphene. The superiority of zigzag graphene in thermal conductivity is only available in high temperature region and disappears in multi-layer case. It is explained that the phonon spectral shrink in high frequency induces the change of thermal conductivity. It is also reported that single-layer graphene has better ballis…
We investigate the possibility of charge carrier localization in magnetic semiconductors due to the presence of a highly inhomogeneous external magnetic field. As an example, we study in detail the properties of a magnetic semiconductor-permalloy disk hybrid system. We find that the giant Zeeman respose of the magnetic semiconductor in conjuction with the highly non-uniform magnetic field created by the vortex state of a permalloy disk can lead to Zeeman localized states at the interface of the two materials. These trapped state are chiral, with chirality controlled by the orientation of the c…
We report the electronic properties of two-dimensional systems made of graphene nanoribbons which are patterned with ad-atoms in two separated regions. Due to the extra electronic confinement induced by the presence of the impurities, we find resonant levels, quasi-bound and impurity-induced localized states, which determine the transport properties of the system. Regardless of the ad-atom distribution in the system, we apply band-folding procedures to simple models and predict the energies and the spatial distribution of those impurity-induced states. We take into account two different scenar…
This contribution reports on comparative studies on giant magnetoresistance (GMR) in carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene nanoribbons of similar aspect ratios (i.e perimeter/length and width/length ratios, for the former and the latter, respectively). The problem is solved at zero temperature in the ballistic transport regime, by means of the Green's functions technique within the tight-binding model and with the so-called wide band approximation for electrodes. The GMR effect in graphene is comparable to that of CNTs, it depends strongly on the chirality and only slightly on the aspect ratio.…
Based on atomistic simulations, the nonlinear elastic properties of monolayer graphene nanoribbons under quasistatic uniaxial tension are predicted, emphasizing the effect of edge structures (armchair and zigzag, without and with hydrogen passivation). The results of atomistic simulations are interpreted within a theoretical framework of thermodynamics, which enables determination of the nonlinear functions for the strain-dependent edge energy and the hydrogen adsorption energy, for both zigzag and armchair edges. Due to the edge effects, the initial Young's modulus of graphene nanoribbons und…
We study a family of local boundary conditions for the Dirac problem corresponding to the continuum limit of graphene, both for nanoribbons and nanodots. We show that, among the members of such family, MIT bag boundary conditions are the ones which are in closest agreement with available experiments. For nanotubes of arbitrary chirality satisfying these last boundary conditions, we evaluate the Casimir energy via zeta function regularization, in such a way that the limit of nanoribbons is clearly determined.
Ballistic point contact (BPC) with zigzag edges in graphene is a main candidate of a valley filter, in which the polarization of the valley degree of freedom can be selected by using a local gate voltage. Here, we propose to detect the valley filtering effect by Andreev reflection. Because electrons in the lowest conduction band and the highest valence band of the BPC possess opposite chirality, the inter-band Andreev reflection is strongly suppressed, after multiple scattering and interference. We draw this conclusion by both the scattering matrix analysis and the numerical simulation. The An…
We report a detailed analytic investigation of the interplay between size quantization and local scattering centers in armchair graphene nanoribbons, as seen in the conductance. The scattering property of a local scattering center is dependent on if it is located on one sublattice (A-site impurity) or both (impurity situated at neighboring carbon atoms, A-B-site impurity). The A-site impurity scatters in a similar way as a localized impurity in a one-dimensional channel made from a two-dimensional electron gas. On the other hand, the A-B-site impurity introduces A- to B-sublattice scattering, …
We study the chaotic dynamics of graphene structures, considering both a periodic, defect free, graphene sheet and graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) of various widths. By numerically calculating the maximum Lyapunov exponent, we quantify the chaoticity for a spectrum of energies in both systems. We find that for all cases, the chaotic strength increases with the energy density, and that the onset of chaos in graphene is slow, becoming evident after more than $10^4$ natural oscillations of the system. For the GNRs, we also investigate the impact of the width and chirality (armchair or zigzag edges) o…
We use the non-perturbative gauge field approach to study the effects of spin orbit coupling on the dynamic of magnetic moment. We present a general equation of motion (EOM) which unifies i) the spin orbit coupling effect derived from the SU(2) spin gauge field, and ii) the moment chirality effect previously derived from the topological U(1)xU(1) rotation gauge under the adiabatic condition. We present a modified Landau-Liftshitz-Gilbert equation and discuss the implication of the modified EOM in various technological applications, such as current-induced switching and trajectory of magnetic m…
Probing topological Floquet states in graphene with ultrafast terahertz scanning tunneling microscopy
University of Bremen（不来梅大学）；Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter（马普物质结构与动力学研究所）；Paul Scherrer Institute（保罗谢尔研究所）；University of Fribourg（弗里堡大学）；The Flatiron Institute（_flatiron研究所）；Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society（马克斯·普朗克学会弗里茨·哈伯研究所）
