DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Edge states and ballistic transport in zigzag graphene ribbons: The role of SiC polytypes

Abstract

Zigzag-edge graphene sidewall ribbons grown on 6H-SiC {11¯2n} facet walls are ballistic conductors. Here, it is assumed that graphene sidewall ribbons grown on 4H-SiC {11¯2n} facets would also be ballistic. In this work, we show that SiC polytype indeed matters: ballistic sidewall graphene ribbons only grow on 6H-SiC facets. 4H and 4H-passivated sidewall graphene ribbons are diffusive conductors. Detailed photoemission and microscopy studies show that 6H-SiC sidewall zigzag ribbons are metallic with a pair of n-doped edge states associated with asymmetric edge terminations. In contrast, 4H-SiC zigzag ribbons are strongly bonded to the SiC, severely distorting the ribbon's π bands. H2 passivation of the 4H ribbons returns them to a metallic state but they show no evidence of edge states in their photoemission-derived band structure.

Authors:
 [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [1];  [5]
  1. The Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  3. Synchrotron SOLEIL, Gif-sur-Yvette (France)
  4. CNRS-Univ. de Lorraine, Vandoeuvre les Nancy (France)
  5. Univ. Paris-Sud, Orsay Cedex (France); Synchrotron SOLEIL, Gif sur Yvette (France)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1560407
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1545954
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review B
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 100; Journal Issue: 4; Journal ID: ISSN 2469-9950
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE

Citation Formats

Miettinen, Anna L., Nevius, M. S., Ko, Wonhee, Kolmer, Marek A., Li, An -Ping, Nair, M. N., Kierren, B., Moreau, L., Conrad, Edward H., and Tejeda, A. Edge states and ballistic transport in zigzag graphene ribbons: The role of SiC polytypes. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.100.045425.
Miettinen, Anna L., Nevius, M. S., Ko, Wonhee, Kolmer, Marek A., Li, An -Ping, Nair, M. N., Kierren, B., Moreau, L., Conrad, Edward H., & Tejeda, A. Edge states and ballistic transport in zigzag graphene ribbons: The role of SiC polytypes. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.100.045425
Miettinen, Anna L., Nevius, M. S., Ko, Wonhee, Kolmer, Marek A., Li, An -Ping, Nair, M. N., Kierren, B., Moreau, L., Conrad, Edward H., and Tejeda, A. Tue . "Edge states and ballistic transport in zigzag graphene ribbons: The role of SiC polytypes". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.100.045425. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1560407.
@article{osti_1560407,
title = {Edge states and ballistic transport in zigzag graphene ribbons: The role of SiC polytypes},
author = {Miettinen, Anna L. and Nevius, M. S. and Ko, Wonhee and Kolmer, Marek A. and Li, An -Ping and Nair, M. N. and Kierren, B. and Moreau, L. and Conrad, Edward H. and Tejeda, A.},
abstractNote = {Zigzag-edge graphene sidewall ribbons grown on 6H-SiC {11¯2n} facet walls are ballistic conductors. Here, it is assumed that graphene sidewall ribbons grown on 4H-SiC {11¯2n} facets would also be ballistic. In this work, we show that SiC polytype indeed matters: ballistic sidewall graphene ribbons only grow on 6H-SiC facets. 4H and 4H-passivated sidewall graphene ribbons are diffusive conductors. Detailed photoemission and microscopy studies show that 6H-SiC sidewall zigzag ribbons are metallic with a pair of n-doped edge states associated with asymmetric edge terminations. In contrast, 4H-SiC zigzag ribbons are strongly bonded to the SiC, severely distorting the ribbon's π bands. H2 passivation of the 4H ribbons returns them to a metallic state but they show no evidence of edge states in their photoemission-derived band structure.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevB.100.045425},
journal = {Physical Review B},
number = 4,
volume = 100,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Jul 30 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Tue Jul 30 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}

Journal Article:

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 9 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Figures / Tables:

FIG. 1 FIG. 1: (a) Graphene lattice. (b) The pre-growth etched SiC(0001) step geometry to grow ZZ-edge sidewall graphene. The distance between ZZ rows is d = $\sqrt{3a/2}$, a = 2.462Å.

Save / Share:

Works referenced in this record:

Large area and structured epitaxial graphene produced by confinement controlled sublimation of silicon carbide
journal, September 2011

  • de Heer, W. A.; Berger, C.; Ruan, M.
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 108, Issue 41
  • DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1105113108

Energy Gaps in Graphene Nanoribbons
journal, November 2006


Electronic structures of zigzag graphene nanoribbons with edge hydrogenation and oxidation
journal, April 2009


Wide Band Gap Semiconductor from a Hidden 2D Incommensurate Graphene Phase
journal, December 2016


Chemically Resolved Interface Structure of Epitaxial Graphene on SiC(0001)
journal, November 2013


Approaching Truly Freestanding Graphene: The Structure of Hydrogen-Intercalated Graphene on 6 H SiC ( 0001 )
journal, March 2015


Edge-states in graphene nanoribbons: a combined spectroscopy and transport study
journal, August 2013


Exceptional ballistic transport in epitaxial graphene nanoribbons
journal, February 2014

  • Baringhaus, Jens; Ruan, Ming; Edler, Frederik
  • Nature, Vol. 506, Issue 7488
  • DOI: 10.1038/nature12952

Quasi-Free-Standing Epitaxial Graphene on SiC Obtained by Hydrogen Intercalation
journal, December 2009


Interacting quantum box superlattice by self-organized Co nanodots on Au(788)
journal, August 2007


Magnetization due to localized states on graphene grain boundary
journal, July 2015

  • Dutta, Sudipta; Wakabayashi, Katsunori
  • Scientific Reports, Vol. 5, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1038/srep11744

Semiconducting Graphene from Highly Ordered Substrate Interactions
journal, September 2015


Quantum Dot Behavior in Graphene Nanoconstrictions
journal, January 2009

  • Todd, Kathryn; Chou, Hung-Tao; Amasha, Sami
  • Nano Letters, Vol. 9, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1021/nl803291b

A wide-bandgap metal–semiconductor–metal nanostructure made entirely from graphene
journal, November 2012

  • Hicks, J.; Tejeda, A.; Taleb-Ibrahimi, A.
  • Nature Physics, Vol. 9, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1038/nphys2487

Electron Transport at the Nanometer-Scale Spatially Revealed by Four-Probe Scanning Tunneling Microscopy
journal, March 2013

  • Li, An-Ping; Clark, Kendal W.; Zhang, X. -G.
  • Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 23, Issue 20
  • DOI: 10.1002/adfm.201203423

Electron Transport in Disordered Graphene Nanoribbons
journal, February 2010


The Bottom-up Growth of Edge Specific Graphene Nanoribbons
journal, October 2014

  • Nevius, M. S.; Wang, F.; Mathieu, C.
  • Nano Letters, Vol. 14, Issue 11
  • DOI: 10.1021/nl502942z

Effect of process variations and ambient temperature on electron mobility at the SiO/sub 2//4H-SiC interface
journal, July 2003

  • Chao-Yang Lu, ; Cooper, J. A.; Tsuji, T.
  • IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, Vol. 50, Issue 7
  • DOI: 10.1109/TED.2003.814974

A cryogenic Quadraprobe scanning tunneling microscope system with fabrication capability for nanotransport research
journal, December 2007

  • Kim, Tae-Hwan; Wang, Zhouhang; Wendelken, John F.
  • Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 78, Issue 12
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.2821610

Quasiparticle Energies and Band Gaps in Graphene Nanoribbons
journal, November 2007


Electronic states of graphene nanoribbons and analytical solutions
journal, October 2010

  • Wakabayashi, Katsunori; Sasaki, Ken-ichi; Nakanishi, Takeshi
  • Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, Vol. 11, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1088/1468-6996/11/5/054504

Structure and evolution of semiconducting buffer graphene grown on SiC(0001)
journal, November 2017


Edge state in graphene ribbons: Nanometer size effect and edge shape dependence
journal, December 1996


Brillouin-zone-selection effects in graphite photoelectron angular distributions
journal, May 1995


The influence of edge structure on the electronic properties of graphene quantum dots and nanoribbons
journal, February 2009

  • Ritter, Kyle A.; Lyding, Joseph W.
  • Nature Materials, Vol. 8, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1038/nmat2378

Interaction, growth, and ordering of epitaxial graphene on SiC{0001} surfaces: A comparative photoelectron spectroscopy study
journal, April 2008


Symmetry breaking in few layer graphene films
journal, October 2007


Emergence of magnetism in graphene materials and nanostructures
journal, April 2010


Quasiparticle dynamics in graphene
journal, December 2006

  • Bostwick, Aaron; Ohta, Taisuke; Seyller, Thomas
  • Nature Physics, Vol. 3, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1038/nphys477

Atomic Structure of Epitaxial Graphene Sidewall Nanoribbons: Flat Graphene, Miniribbons, and the Confinement Gap
journal, December 2014

  • Palacio, Irene; Celis, Arlensiú; Nair, Maya N.
  • Nano Letters, Vol. 15, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1021/nl503352v

Ultrathin Epitaxial Graphite:  2D Electron Gas Properties and a Route toward Graphene-based Nanoelectronics
journal, December 2004

  • Berger, Claire; Song, Zhimin; Li, Tianbo
  • The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Vol. 108, Issue 52, p. 19912-19916
  • DOI: 10.1021/jp040650f

Scalable templated growth of graphene nanoribbons on SiC
journal, October 2010


Electronic structure and magnetic properties of graphitic ribbons
journal, February 2007


Band Gap Opening Induced by the Structural Periodicity in Epitaxial Graphene Buffer Layer
journal, March 2017


Carrier density and magnetism in graphene zigzag nanoribbons
journal, June 2009


Ballistic tracks in graphene nanoribbons
journal, October 2018

  • Aprojanz, Johannes; Power, Stephen R.; Bampoulis, Pantelis
  • Nature Communications, Vol. 9, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-06940-5

Equilibrium crystal shapes for 6H AND 4H SiC grown on non-planar substrates
journal, July 1999


Structural properties of the graphene-SiC(0001) interface as a key for the preparation of homogeneous large-terrace graphene surfaces
journal, December 2007


Conductance quantization and transport gaps in disordered graphene nanoribbons
journal, February 2009


Figures/Tables have been extracted from DOE-funded journal article accepted manuscripts.