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Twist-controlled resonant tunnelling in graphene/boron nitride/graphene heterostructures

Nature Nanotechnology volume 9, pages 808–813 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

Recent developments in the technology of van der Waals heterostructures1,2 made from two-dimensional atomic crystals3,4 have already led to the observation of new physical phenomena, such as the metal–insulator transition5 and Coulomb drag6, and to the realization of functional devices, such as tunnel diodes7,8, tunnel transistors9,10 and photovoltaic sensors11. An unprecedented degree of control of the electronic properties is available not only by means of the selection of materials in the stack12, but also through the additional fine-tuning achievable by adjusting the built-in strain and relative orientation of the component layers13,14,15,16,17. Here we demonstrate how careful alignment of the crystallographic orientation of two graphene electrodes separated by a layer of hexagonal boron nitride in a transistor device can achieve resonant tunnelling with conservation of electron energy, momentum and, potentially, chirality. We show how the resonance peak and negative differential conductance in the device characteristics induce a tunable radiofrequency oscillatory current that has potential for future high-frequency technology.

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Figure 1: Schematic representation of our device and its band structure.
Figure 2: The device characteristics at 2K.
Figure 3: Effect of an in-plane magnetic field on resonant tunnelling in the same device as in Fig. 2.
Figure 4: Radiofrequency oscillator based on a resonant tunnelling transistor, T = 300 K.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the European Research Council, EC-FET European Graphene Flagship, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (UK), the Leverhulme Trust (UK), the Royal Society, the US Office of Naval Research, US Air Force Office of Scientific Research, US Army Research Office and RS-RFBR, grant numbers 14-02-00792 and 13-02-92612 (Russian Federation). Y-J.K. was supported by the Global Research Lab Program (2011-0021972) through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future, Korea.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK

    A. Mishchenko, V. E. Morozov, M. J. Zhu, S. L. Wong, F. Withers, C. R. Woods, A. K. Geim, L. Eaves & K. S. Novoselov

  2. Centre for Mesoscience & Nanotechnology, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK

    J. S. Tu, Y. Cao, R. V. Gorbachev, Y-J. Kim & A. K. Geim

  3. Physics Department, Lancaster University, Lancaster University, LA1 4YB, UK

    J. R. Wallbank & V. I. Fal'ko

  4. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK

    M. T. Greenaway, E. E. Vdovin, O. Makarovsky, T. M. Fromhold & L. Eaves

  5. Institute of Microelectronics Technology and High Purity Materials, Russian Academy of Sciences, Chernogolovka, 142432, Russia

    S. V. Morozov & E. E. Vdovin

  6. Department of Chemistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, 151-747, Korea

    Y-J. Kim

  7. National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, 305-0044, Japan

    K. Watanabe & T. Taniguchi

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  1. A. Mishchenko
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Contributions

J.S.T., Y.C. and Y-J.K. fabricated devices, A.M. carried out measurements and analysed the results, J.R.W., M.T.G., T.M.F., V.I.F and L.E. provided theoretical modelling and interpretation, K.W. and T.T. provided hBN crystals, S.L.W., F.W. and C.R.W. performed atomic force microscopy and Raman measurements, R.V.G., V.E.M., S.V.M., M.J.Z., E.E.V. and O.M. helped with experiments and/or writing the paper, A.M., K.S.N. and L.E. wrote the manuscript. Sections 1 and 2 of the Supplementary Information were written by J.R.W. and V.I.F. All authors contributed to discussions.

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Correspondence to K. S. Novoselov.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Mishchenko, A., Tu, J., Cao, Y. et al. Twist-controlled resonant tunnelling in graphene/boron nitride/graphene heterostructures. Nature Nanotech 9, 808–813 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2014.187

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