title: Electronic structure and quantum transport properties of trilayers formed from graphene and boron nitride.
abstract: We report the results of a theoretical study of graphene/BN/graphene and BN/graphene/BN trilayers using the van-der-Waals-corrected density functional theory in conjunction with the non-equilibrium Green's Function method. These trilayer systems formed from graphene and BN exhibit distinct stacking-dependent features in their ground state electronic structure and response to an applied electric field perpendicular to the trilayer planes. The graphene/BN/graphene system shows a negligible gap in the electronic band structure that increases for the AAA and ABA stackings under an external electric field, while the zero-field band gap of BN/graphene/BN remains unaffected by the electric field. When both types of trilayer systems are contacted with gold electrodes, a metal-like conduction is predicted in the low-field regime, which changes to a p-type conduction with an increase in the applied perpendicular bias field.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan 49931, USA.
authors.forename: Xiaoliang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.forename: Rodrigo G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Amorim
authors.forename: Ralph H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Scheicher
authors.forename: Ravindra
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pandey
authors.forename: Shashi P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Karna
mesh_terms: D001896:Boron Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D004583:Electrons; D006108:Graphite / Q000737:chemistry*; D011789:Quantum Theory; D055672:Static Electricity
chemical_list: D001896:Boron Compounds; C017282:boron nitride; D006108:Graphite