title: Hybridization effects on the out-of-plane electron tunneling properties of monolayers: is h-BN more conductive than graphene?
abstract: Electron transport properties through multilayers of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) sandwiched between gold electrodes is investigated by density functional theory together with the non-equilibrium Green's function method. The calculated results find that despite graphene being a gapless semimetal and h-BN two-dimensional layer being an insulator, the transmission function perpendicular to the atomic layer plane in both systems is nearly identical. The out-of-plane tunnel current is found to be strongly dependent on the interaction at the interface of the device. As a consequence, single layer h-BN coupled with atomically flat weakly interacting metals such as gold may not work as a good dielectric material, but the absence of sharp resonances would probably lead to more stable out-of-plane electronic transport properties compared to graphene.
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: Alexandre R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Rocha
authors.forename: Ravindra
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pandey