227 research outputs found
A Graphene Field-Effect Device
In this letter, a top-gated field effect device (FED) manufactured from
monolayer graphene is investigated. Except for graphene deposition, a
conventional top-down CMOS-compatible process flow is applied. Carrier
mobilities in graphene pseudo-MOS structures are compared to those obtained
from top-gated Graphene-FEDs. The extracted values exceed the universal
mobility of silicon and silicon-on-insulator MOSFETs.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure
Visible and infrared photocurrent enhancement in a graphene-silicon Schottky photodetector through surface-states and electric field engineering
The design of efficient graphene-silicon (GSi) Schottky junction
photodetectors requires detailed understanding of the spatial origin of the
photoresponse. Scanning-photocurrent-microscopy (SPM) studies have been carried
out in the visible wavelengths regions only, in which the response due to
silicon is dominant. Here we present comparative SPM studies in the visible
( = 633nm) and infrared ( = 1550nm) wavelength regions for a
number of GSi Schottky junction photodetector architectures, revealing the
photoresponse mechanisms for silicon and graphene dominated responses,
respectively, and demonstrating the influence of electrostatics on the device
performance. Local electric field enhancement at the graphene edges leads to a
more than ten-fold increased photoresponse compared to the bulk of the
graphene-silicon junction. Intentional design and patterning of such graphene
edges is demonstrated as an efficient strategy to increase the overall
photoresponse of the devices. Complementary simulations and modeling illuminate
observed effects and highlight the importance of considering graphene's shape
and pattern and device geometry in the device design
Bistability and oscillatory motion of natural nano-membranes appearing within monolayer graphene on silicon dioxide
The recently found material graphene is a truly two-dimensional crystal and
exhibits, in addition, an extreme mechanical strength. This in combination with
the high electron mobility favours graphene for electromechanical
investigations down to the quantum limit. Here, we show that a monolayer of
graphene on SiO2 provides natural, ultra-small membranes of diameters down to 3
nm, which are caused by the intrinsic rippling of the material. Some of these
nano-membranes can be switched hysteretically between two vertical positions
using the electric field of the tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM).
They can also be forced to oscillatory motion by a low frequency ac-field.
Using the mechanical constants determined previously, we estimate a high
resonance frequency up to 0.4 THz. This might be favorable for
quantum-electromechanics and is prospective for single atom mass spectrometers.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure
Non-volatile switching in graphene field effect devices
The absence of a band gap in graphene restricts its straight forward
application as a channel material in field effect transistors. In this letter,
we report on a new approach to engineer a band gap in graphene field effect
devices (FED) by controlled structural modification of the graphene channel
itself. The conductance in the FEDs is switched between a conductive "on-state"
to an insulating "off-state" with more than six orders of magnitude difference
in conductance. Above a critical value of an electric field applied to the FED
gate under certain environmental conditions, a chemical modification takes
place to form insulating graphene derivatives. The effect can be reversed by
electrical fields of opposite polarity or short current pulses to recover the
initial state. These reversible switches could potentially be applied to
non-volatile memories and novel neuromorphic processing concepts.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, submitted to IEEE ED
Anisotropic photoconductivity in graphene
We investigate the photoconductivity of graphene within the relaxation time
approximation. In presence of the inter-band transitions induced by the
linearly polarized light the photoconductivity turns out to be highly
anisotropic due to the pseudospin selection rule for Dirac-like carriers. The
effect can be observed in clean undoped graphene samples and be utilized for
light polarization detection.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Antibody-mediated inhibition of syndecan-4 dimerisation reduces interleukin (IL)-1 receptor trafficking and signalling.
OBJECTIVE: Syndecan-4 (sdc4) is a cell-anchored proteoglycan that consists of a transmembrane core protein and glucosaminoglycan (GAG) side chains. Binding of soluble factors to the GAG chains of sdc4 may result in the dimerisation of sdc4 and the initiation of downstream signalling cascades. However, the question of how sdc4 dimerisation and signalling affects the response of cells to inflammatory stimuli is unknown. METHODS: Sdc4 immunostaining was performed on rheumatoid arthritis (RA) tissue sections. Interleukin (IL)-1 induced extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK) phosphorylation and matrix metalloproteinase-3 production was investigated. Il-1 binding to sdc4 was investigated using immunoprecipitation. IL-1 receptor (IL1R1) staining on wild-type, sdc4 and IL1R1 knockout fibroblasts was performed in fluorescence-activated cell sorting analyses. A blocking sdc4 antibody was used to investigate sdc4 dimerisation, IL1R1 expression and the histological paw destruction in the human tumour necrosis factor-alpha transgenic mouse. RESULTS: We show that in fibroblasts, the loss of sdc4 or the antibody-mediated inhibition of sdc4 dimerisation reduces the cell surface expression of the IL-1R and regulates the sensitivity of fibroblasts to IL-1. We demonstrate that IL-1 directly binds to sdc4 and in an IL-1R-independent manner leads to its dimerisation. IL-1-induced dimerisation of sdc4 regulates caveolin vesicle-mediated trafficking of the IL1R1, which in turn determines the responsiveness to IL-1. Administration of antibodies (Ab) against the dimerisation domain of sdc4, thus, strongly reduces the expression IL1R1 on arthritic fibroblasts both in vitro and an animal model of human RA. CONCLUSION: Collectively, our data suggest that Ab that specifically inhibit sdc4 dimerisation may support anti-IL-1 strategies in diseases such as inflammatory arthritis
Mars Colonization Problems
In this article, graphene is investigated with respect to its electronic properties when introduced into field effect devices (FED). With the exception of manual graphene deposition, conventional top-down CMOS-compatible
processes are applied. Few and monolayer graphene sheets are
characterized by scanning electron microscopy, atomic force
microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The electrical properties of
monolayer graphene sandwiched between two silicon dioxide films are studied. Carrier mobilities in graphene
pseudo-MOS structures are compared to those obtained from
double-gated Graphene-FEDs and silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistors (MOSFETs)
Electrical Control of Plasmon Resonance with Graphene
Surface plasmon, with its unique capability to concentrate light into
sub-wavelength volume, has enabled great advances in photon science, ranging
from nano-antenna and single-molecule Raman scattering to plasmonic waveguide
and metamaterials. In many applications it is desirable to control the surface
plasmon resonance in situ with electric field. Graphene, with its unique
tunable optical properties, provides an ideal material to integrate with
nanometallic structures for realizing such control. Here we demonstrate
effective modulation of the plasmon resonance in a model system composed of
hybrid graphene-gold nanorod structure. Upon electrical gating the strong
optical transitions in graphene can be switched on and off, which leads to
significant modulation of both the resonance frequency and quality factor of
plasmon resonance in gold nanorods. Hybrid graphene-nanometallic structures, as
exemplified by this combination of graphene and gold nanorod, provide a general
and powerful way for electrical control of plasmon resonances. It holds promise
for novel active optical devices and plasmonic circuits at the deep
subwavelength scale
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