Seamless Staircase Electrical Contact to Semiconducting Graphene Nanoribbons
Abstract
Electrical contact to low-dimensional (low-D) materials is a key to their electronic applications. Traditional metal contacts to low-D semiconductors typically create gap states that can pin the Fermi level (EF). Yet, low-D metals possessing a limited density of states at EF can enable gate-tunable work functions and contact barriers. Furthermore, a seamless contact with native bonds at the interface, without localized interfacial states, can serve as an optimal electrode. To realize such a seamless contact, one needs to develop atomically precise heterojunctions from the atom up. In this work, we demonstrate an all-carbon staircase contact to ultranarrow armchair graphene nanoribbons (aGNRs). The coherent heterostructures of width-variable aGNRs, consisting of 7, 14, 21, and up to 56 carbon atoms across the width, are synthesized by a surface-assisted self-assembly process with a single molecular precursor. The aGNRs exhibit characteristic vibrational modes in Raman spectroscopy. A combined scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory study reveals the native covalent-bond nature and quasi-metallic contact characteristics of the interfaces. Our electronic measurements of such seamless GNR staircase constitute a promising first step toward making low resistance contacts.
- Authors:
-
[1];
[4];
[1]
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Science Foundation (NSF)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1484739
- Grant/Contract Number:
- FG02-98ER45685
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Nano Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 17; Journal Issue: 10; Journal ID: ISSN 1530-6984
- Publisher:
- American Chemical Society
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY; Electrical contact; graphene nanoribbon; heterostructure; staircase; scanning tunneling microscopy; vibrational modes
Citation Formats
Ma, Chuanxu, Liang, Liangbo, Xiao, Zhongcan, Puretzky, Alexander A., Hong, Kunlun, Lu, Wenchang, Meunier, Vincent, Bernholc, J., and Li, An-Ping. Seamless Staircase Electrical Contact to Semiconducting Graphene Nanoribbons. United States: N. p., 2017.
Web. doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b02938.
Ma, Chuanxu, Liang, Liangbo, Xiao, Zhongcan, Puretzky, Alexander A., Hong, Kunlun, Lu, Wenchang, Meunier, Vincent, Bernholc, J., & Li, An-Ping. Seamless Staircase Electrical Contact to Semiconducting Graphene Nanoribbons. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b02938
Ma, Chuanxu, Liang, Liangbo, Xiao, Zhongcan, Puretzky, Alexander A., Hong, Kunlun, Lu, Wenchang, Meunier, Vincent, Bernholc, J., and Li, An-Ping. Wed .
"Seamless Staircase Electrical Contact to Semiconducting Graphene Nanoribbons". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b02938. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1484739.
@article{osti_1484739,
title = {Seamless Staircase Electrical Contact to Semiconducting Graphene Nanoribbons},
author = {Ma, Chuanxu and Liang, Liangbo and Xiao, Zhongcan and Puretzky, Alexander A. and Hong, Kunlun and Lu, Wenchang and Meunier, Vincent and Bernholc, J. and Li, An-Ping},
abstractNote = {Electrical contact to low-dimensional (low-D) materials is a key to their electronic applications. Traditional metal contacts to low-D semiconductors typically create gap states that can pin the Fermi level (EF). Yet, low-D metals possessing a limited density of states at EF can enable gate-tunable work functions and contact barriers. Furthermore, a seamless contact with native bonds at the interface, without localized interfacial states, can serve as an optimal electrode. To realize such a seamless contact, one needs to develop atomically precise heterojunctions from the atom up. In this work, we demonstrate an all-carbon staircase contact to ultranarrow armchair graphene nanoribbons (aGNRs). The coherent heterostructures of width-variable aGNRs, consisting of 7, 14, 21, and up to 56 carbon atoms across the width, are synthesized by a surface-assisted self-assembly process with a single molecular precursor. The aGNRs exhibit characteristic vibrational modes in Raman spectroscopy. A combined scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory study reveals the native covalent-bond nature and quasi-metallic contact characteristics of the interfaces. Our electronic measurements of such seamless GNR staircase constitute a promising first step toward making low resistance contacts.},
doi = {10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b02938},
journal = {Nano Letters},
number = 10,
volume = 17,
place = {United States},
year = {2017},
month = {9}
}
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