Letter abstract
Nature Nanotechnology 4, 383 - 388 (2009)
Published online: 26 April 2009 | doi:10.1038/nnano.2009.89
Subject Category: Electronic properties and devices
Trilayer graphene is a semimetal with a gate-tunable band overlap
M. F. Craciun1,6, S. Russo1,2,6, M. Yamamoto1, J. B. Oostinga2,3, A. F. Morpurgo3 & S. Tarucha1,4,5
Abstract
Graphene-based materials are promising candidates for nanoelectronic devices1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 because very high carrier mobilities can be achieved without the use of sophisticated material preparation techniques1. However, the carrier mobilities reported for single-layer and bilayer graphene are still less than those reported for graphite crystals at low temperatures, and the optimum number of graphene layers for any given application is currently unclear, because the charge transport properties of samples containing three or more graphene layers have not yet been investigated systematically1. Here, we study charge transport through trilayer graphene as a function of carrier density, temperature, and perpendicular electric field. We find that trilayer graphene is a semimetal with a resistivity that decreases with increasing electric field, a behaviour that is markedly different from that of single-layer and bilayer graphene. We show that the phenomenon originates from an overlap between the conduction and valence bands that can be controlled by an electric field, a property that had never previously been observed in any other semimetal. We also determine the effective mass of the charge carriers, and show that it accounts for a large part of the variation in the carrier mobility as the number of layers in the sample is varied.
- Department of Applied Physics and Quantum-Phase Electronics Center, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan
- Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, Lorentzweg 1, 2628 CJ Delft, The Netherlands
- Department of Condensed Matter Physics and Group of Applied Physics, University of Geneva, quai Ernest-Ansermet 24, CH-1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
- Quantum Spin Information Project, International Cooperative Research Project, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Atsugi-shi, 243-0198, Japan
- Institute for Nano Quantum Information Electronics, The University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8505, Japan
- These authors contributed equally to this work.
Correspondence to: M. F. Craciun1,6 e-mail: monica@meso.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Correspondence to: S. Russo1,2,6 e-mail: saverio@meso.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
NEWS AND VIEWS
Graphene Nanoelectronics goes flat outNature Nanotechnology News and Views (01 Aug 2008)
Graphene Quantum information on chicken wireNature Physics News and Views (01 Mar 2007)
See all 13 matches for News And ViewsRESEARCH
Optically Positive, Isotropic and Negative Lamellar Liquid Crystalline SolutionsNature Letters to Editor (04 Nov 1967)
A new member of the IL-1 receptor family highly expressed in hippocampus and involved in X-linked mental retardationNature Genetics Article (01 Sep 1999)
See all 73 matches for Research
