Issue 45, 2019

Ultranarrow heterojunctions of armchair-graphene nanoribbons as resonant-tunnelling devices

Abstract

A systematic investigation is performed on the electronic transport properties of armchair-graphene nanoribbon (AGNR) heterojunctions using spin-polarized density functional theory calculations in combination with the non-equilibrium Green's function formalism. 9-AGNR and 5-AGNR structures are used to form a single-well configuration by sandwiching a 5-AGNR between two 9-AGNRs. At the same time, these 9-AGNRs are matched at the left and right to electrodes, 9 and 5 being the number of carbon dimers as width. This heterojunction mimics an electronic device with two potential barriers (9-AGNR) and one quantum well (5-AGNR) where quasi-bound states are confined. First, we study the ground state properties, and then we calculate the electron transport properties of this device as a function of the well width. We show the presence of electronic tunnelling resonances between the barriers by delocalized electron density inside the well's structure. This is corroborated by transmission curves, localized densities of states (LDOS), current-vs.-bias voltage results, and the trend of the resonances as a function of the well width. This work shows that carbon AGNRs may be used as resonant-tunnelling devices for applications in nanoelectronics.

Graphical abstract: Ultranarrow heterojunctions of armchair-graphene nanoribbons as resonant-tunnelling devices

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
06 août 2019
Accepted
29 août 2019
First published
13 sept. 2019

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2019,21, 24867-24875

Ultranarrow heterojunctions of armchair-graphene nanoribbons as resonant-tunnelling devices

F. Sánchez-Ochoa, J. Zhang, Y. Du, Z. Huang, G. Canto, M. Springborg and G. H. Cocoletzi, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2019, 21, 24867 DOI: 10.1039/C9CP04368C

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements