Resonant tunnelling and negative differential conductance in graphene transistors

The chemical stability of graphene and other free-standing two-dimensional crystals means that they can be stacked in different combinations to produce a new class of functional materials, designed for specific device applications. Here we report resonant tunnelling of Dirac fermions through a boron...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Britnell, L., Gorbachev, R.V., Geim, A.K., Ponomarenko, L.A., Mishchenko, A., Greenaway, M.T., Fromhold, T.M., Novoselov, K.S., Eaves, Laurence
Format: Article
Published: Nature Publishing Group 2013
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/2756/
_version_ 1848790868168802304
author Britnell, L.
Gorbachev, R.V.
Geim, A.K.
Ponomarenko, L.A.
Mishchenko, A.
Greenaway, M.T.
Fromhold, T.M.
Novoselov, K.S.
Eaves, Laurence
author_facet Britnell, L.
Gorbachev, R.V.
Geim, A.K.
Ponomarenko, L.A.
Mishchenko, A.
Greenaway, M.T.
Fromhold, T.M.
Novoselov, K.S.
Eaves, Laurence
author_sort Britnell, L.
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description The chemical stability of graphene and other free-standing two-dimensional crystals means that they can be stacked in different combinations to produce a new class of functional materials, designed for specific device applications. Here we report resonant tunnelling of Dirac fermions through a boron nitride barrier, a few atomic layers thick, sandwiched between two graphene electrodes. The resonance occurs when the electronic spectra of the two electrodes are aligned. The resulting negative differential conductance in the device characteristics persists up to room temperature and is gate voltage-tuneable due to graphene’s unique Dirac-like spectrum. Although conventional resonant tunnelling devices comprising a quantum well sandwiched between two tunnel barriers are tens of nanometres thick, the tunnelling carriers in our devices cross only a few atomic layers, offering the prospect of ultra-fast transit times. This feature, combined with the multi-valued form of the device characteristics, has potential for applications in high-frequency and logic devices.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T18:19:27Z
format Article
id nottingham-2756
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T18:19:27Z
publishDate 2013
publisher Nature Publishing Group
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-27562020-05-04T16:36:13Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/2756/ Resonant tunnelling and negative differential conductance in graphene transistors Britnell, L. Gorbachev, R.V. Geim, A.K. Ponomarenko, L.A. Mishchenko, A. Greenaway, M.T. Fromhold, T.M. Novoselov, K.S. Eaves, Laurence The chemical stability of graphene and other free-standing two-dimensional crystals means that they can be stacked in different combinations to produce a new class of functional materials, designed for specific device applications. Here we report resonant tunnelling of Dirac fermions through a boron nitride barrier, a few atomic layers thick, sandwiched between two graphene electrodes. The resonance occurs when the electronic spectra of the two electrodes are aligned. The resulting negative differential conductance in the device characteristics persists up to room temperature and is gate voltage-tuneable due to graphene’s unique Dirac-like spectrum. Although conventional resonant tunnelling devices comprising a quantum well sandwiched between two tunnel barriers are tens of nanometres thick, the tunnelling carriers in our devices cross only a few atomic layers, offering the prospect of ultra-fast transit times. This feature, combined with the multi-valued form of the device characteristics, has potential for applications in high-frequency and logic devices. Nature Publishing Group 2013-04-30 Article PeerReviewed Britnell, L., Gorbachev, R.V., Geim, A.K., Ponomarenko, L.A., Mishchenko, A., Greenaway, M.T., Fromhold, T.M., Novoselov, K.S. and Eaves, Laurence (2013) Resonant tunnelling and negative differential conductance in graphene transistors. Nature Communications, 4 . 1794/1-1794/5. http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v4/n4/full/ncomms2817.html doi:10.1038/ncomms2817 doi:10.1038/ncomms2817
spellingShingle Britnell, L.
Gorbachev, R.V.
Geim, A.K.
Ponomarenko, L.A.
Mishchenko, A.
Greenaway, M.T.
Fromhold, T.M.
Novoselov, K.S.
Eaves, Laurence
Resonant tunnelling and negative differential conductance in graphene transistors
title Resonant tunnelling and negative differential conductance in graphene transistors
title_full Resonant tunnelling and negative differential conductance in graphene transistors
title_fullStr Resonant tunnelling and negative differential conductance in graphene transistors
title_full_unstemmed Resonant tunnelling and negative differential conductance in graphene transistors
title_short Resonant tunnelling and negative differential conductance in graphene transistors
title_sort resonant tunnelling and negative differential conductance in graphene transistors
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/2756/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/2756/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/2756/