title: Resonant tunnelling and negative differential conductance in graphene transistors.
abstract: The chemical stability of graphene and other free-standing two-dimensional crystals means that they can be stacked in different combinations to produce a new class of functional materials, designed for specific device applications. Here we report resonant tunnelling of Dirac fermions through a boron nitride barrier, a few atomic layers thick, sandwiched between two graphene electrodes. The resonance occurs when the electronic spectra of the two electrodes are aligned. The resulting negative differential conductance in the device characteristics persists up to room temperature and is gate voltage-tuneable due to graphene's unique Dirac-like spectrum. Although conventional resonant tunnelling devices comprising a quantum well sandwiched between two tunnel barriers are tens of nanometres thick, the tunnelling carriers in our devices cross only a few atomic layers, offering the prospect of ultra-fast transit times. This feature, combined with the multi-valued form of the device characteristics, has potential for applications in high-frequency and logic devices.
authors: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Britnell
authors: R V
authors: RV
authors: Gorbachev
authors: A K
authors: AK
authors: Geim
authors: L A
authors: LA
authors: Ponomarenko
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Mishchenko
authors: M T
authors: MT
authors: Greenaway
authors: T M
authors: TM
authors: Fromhold
authors: K S
authors: KS
authors: Novoselov
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Eaves
references: Nat Nanotechnol. 2013 Feb;8(2):100-3
references: 23263726
references: Nat Mater. 2012 Sep;11(9):764-7
references: 22842512
references: ACS Nano. 2012 Mar 27;6(3):2610-6
references: 22324780
references: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Jul 26;102(30):10451-3
references: 16027370
references: Science. 2012 Feb 24;335(6071):947-50
references: 22300848
references: Nano Lett. 2011 Jun 8;11(6):2291-5
references: 21553853
references: Phys Chem Chem Phys. 2012 Aug 28;14(32):11478-83
references: 22805975
references: Phys Rev Lett. 2011 Nov 11;107(20):206601
references: 22181752
references: Nat Nanotechnol. 2010 Oct;5(10):722-6
references: 20729834
references: Nature. 2012 Aug 30;488(7413):627-32
references: 22932386
references: Phys Rev Lett. 1992 Dec 28;69(26):3804-3807
references: 10046918
references: Phys Rev Lett. 2011 Oct 7;107(15):156601
references: 22107308
references: Nat Mater. 2011 Apr;10(4):282-5
references: 21317900
references: Nano Lett. 2012 Mar 14;12(3):1707-10
references: 22380756
references: ACS Nano. 2012 Mar 27;6(3):2642-8
references: 22372431
references: Science. 2012 Jun 1;336(6085):1140-3
references: 22604723