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Title: Graphene nanopores as negative differential resistance devices

Journal Article · · Journal of Applied Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4907265· OSTI ID:22413053
; ;  [1]
  1. Centre for Neural Engineering, The University of Melbourne, 203 Bouverie Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia and Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010 (Australia)

We present graphene nanopores as new negative differential resistance (NDR) devices, and study their quantum transport properties using non-equilibrium Green's function and the density functional tight binding method. The proposed device structure is created on intrinsic armchair-edged graphene nanoribbons with uniform widths, where the central scattering region has a nanopore in the interior, and the two ends of the nanoribbon act naturally as connecting electrodes. We show that nitrogen-passivated scattering regions generally result in pronounced NDR properties, while hydrogen-passivated ones do not. This NDR effect occurs at low bias voltages, below 1 V, and achieves extraordinarily high peak-to-valley current ratio, while still attaining very high peak current densities. In addition, very sharp current peaks in the μA range can occur in the I-V curves, and through varying structural dimensions of the proposed structure multiple NDR regions can be realized. These results suggest that the device has promising potential in applications such as high frequency oscillators, memory devices, and fast switches.

OSTI ID:
22413053
Journal Information:
Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 117, Issue 5; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English