title: Effects of metallic contacts on electron transport through graphene.
abstract: We report on a first-principles study of the conductance through graphene suspended between Al contacts as a function of junction length, width, and orientation. The charge transfer at the leads and into the freestanding section gives rise to an electron-hole asymmetry in the conductance and in sufficiently long junctions induces two conductance minima at the energies of the Dirac points for suspended and clamped regions, respectively. We obtain the potential profile along a junction caused by doping and provide parameters for effective model calculations of the junction conductance with weakly interacting metallic leads.
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA.
authors.forename: Salvador
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Barraza-Lopez
authors.forename: Mihajlo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vanević
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kindermann
authors.forename: M Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Chou