Dielectric-Screening Reduction-Induced Large Transport Gap in Suspended Sub-10 nm Graphene Nanoribbon Functional Devices

The predicted quasiparticle energy gap of more than 1 eV in sub-6 nm graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) is elusive, as it is strongly suppressed by the substrate dielectric screening. The number of techniques that can produce suspended high-quality and electrically contacted GNRs is small. The helium ion beam milling technique is capable of achieving sub-5 nm patterning; however, the functional device fabrication and the electrical characteristics are not yet reported. Here, the electrical transport measurement of suspended ≈6 nm wide mono- and bilayer GNR functional devices is reported, which are obtained through sub-nanometer resolution helium ion beam milling with controlled total helium ion budget. The transport gap opening of 0.16-0.8 eV is observed at room temperature. The measured transport gap of the different edge orientated GNRs is in good agreement with first-principles simulation results. The enhanced electron-electron interaction and reduced dielectric screening in the suspended quasi-1D GNRs and anti-ferromagnetic coupling between opposite edges in the zigzag GNRs substantiate the observed large transport gap.