EAPSI: Graphene Nanoribbons for Novel Quantum Devices

Vail Owen, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

Graphene nanoribbons, epitaxially grown on the sidewall of single crystal silicon carbide, have been shown to have many useful electrical properties including ballistic transport and extremely high carrier mobility, as well as more exotic effects like ferromagnetism. To probe some of these exotic properties, advanced quantum transport techniques can be used. In China, the PI will fabricate graphene nanoribbon field-effect-transistors using high-quality samples grown at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The instruments and infrastructures available at Tianjin University will allow for rapid device fabrication and characterization. Electronic transport measurements will be carried out in the Tianjin International Center of Nanoparticle and Nanosystem, directed by Professor Walter de Heer, a noted expert on epitaxial graphene. This program will advance graphene nanoribbons as a new-age electronic interconnect, poised to replace copper wiring in microelectronics and even the electronic devices themselves. The quantum properties of graphene nanoribbons can be probed using normal metal and/or superconducting contacts. The differential conductance of the ribbon will be measured as a function of gate voltage, source-drain bias, and magnetic field. Superconducting contacts are expected to lead to proximity effect in graphene nanoribbons, sensitive to the spin polarized excited states. The comprehensive understanding of the quantum levels in graphene nanoribbons, as well as the corresponding transport behavior, will aid in the use of graphene nanoribbon for several budding device applications such as quantum dots, spintronics, high-frequency electronics, optoelectronics, and plasmonics. This award under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is jointly funded by NSF and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China.