Enhanced conductance fluctuation by quantum confinement effect in graphene nanoribbons

Nano Lett. 2010 Nov 10;10(11):4590-4. doi: 10.1021/nl1025979. Epub 2010 Oct 12.

Abstract

Conductance fluctuation is usually unavoidable in graphene nanoribbons (GNR) due to the presence of disorder along its edges. By measuring the low-frequency noise in GNR devices, we find that the conductance fluctuation is strongly correlated with the density-of-states of GNR. In single-layer GNR, the gate-dependence of noise shows peaks whose positions quantitatively match the subband positions in the band structures of GNR. This correlation provides a robust mechanism to electrically probe the band structure of GNR, especially when the subband structures are smeared out in conductance measurement.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Electric Conductivity
  • Graphite / chemistry*
  • Materials Testing
  • Nanostructures / chemistry*
  • Nanostructures / ultrastructure*
  • Particle Size
  • Quantum Theory

Substances

  • Graphite