Letter abstract


Nature Nanotechnology 3, 491 - 495 (2008)
Published online: 20 July 2008 | doi:10.1038/nnano.2008.199

Subject Category: Electronic properties and devices

Approaching ballistic transport in suspended graphene

Xu Du1, Ivan Skachko1, Anthony Barker1 & Eva Y. Andrei1


The discovery of graphene1, 2 raises the prospect of a new class of nanoelectronic devices based on the extraordinary physical properties3, 4, 5, 6 of this one-atom-thick layer of carbon. Unlike two-dimensional electron layers in semiconductors, where the charge carriers become immobile at low densities, the carrier mobility in graphene can remain high, even when their density vanishes at the Dirac point. However, when the graphene sample is supported on an insulating substrate, potential fluctuations induce charge puddles that obscure the Dirac point physics. Here we show that the fluctuations are significantly reduced in suspended graphene samples and we report low-temperature mobility approaching 200,000 cm2 V-1 s-1 for carrier densities below 5 times 109 cm-2. Such values cannot be attained in semiconductors or non-suspended graphene. Moreover, unlike graphene samples supported by a substrate, the conductivity of suspended graphene at the Dirac point is strongly dependent on temperature and approaches ballistic values at liquid helium temperatures. At higher temperatures, above 100 K, we observe the onset of thermally induced long-range scattering.

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  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers the State University of New Jersey, 136 Frelinghuysen Rd, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA

Correspondence to: Eva Y. Andrei1 e-mail: eandrei@physics.rutgers.edu




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