1,473 research outputs found
Molecular Memory with Atomically-Smooth Graphene Contacts
We report the use of bilayer graphene as an atomically-smooth contact for
nanoscale devices. A two-terminal Bucky ball (C60) based molecular memory is
fabricated with bilayer graphene as a contact on the polycrystalline nickel
electrode. Graphene provides an atomically-smooth covering over an otherwise
rough metal surface. The use of graphene additionally prohibits the
electromigration of nickel atoms into the C60 layer. The devices exhibit a
low-resistance state in the first sweep cycle and irreversibly switch to a high
resistance state at 0.8-1.2 V bias. The reverse sweep has a hysteresis behavior
as well. In the subsequent cycles, the devices retain the high-resistance
state, thus making it write-once read-many memory (WORM). The ratio of current
in low-resistance to high-resistance state is lying in 20-40 range for various
devices with excellent retention characteristics. Control sample without the
bilayer graphene shows random hysteresis and switching.Comment: 13 pages and 4 figure
Collective Modes of Massive Dirac Fermions in Armchair Graphene Nanoribbons
We report the plasmon dispersion characteristics of intrinsic and extrinsic
armchair graphene nanoribbons of atomic width N = 5 using a p_z-orbital tight
binding model with third-nearest-neighbor (3nn) coupling. The coupling
parameters are obtained by fitting the 3nn dispersions to that of an extended
Huckel theory. The resultant massive Dirac Fermion system has a band gap E_g
\approx 64 meV. The extrinsic plasmon dispersion relation is found to approach
a common dispersion curve as the chemical potential increases, whereas
the intrinsic plasmon dispersion relation is found to have both energy and
momentum thresholds. We also report an analytical model for the extrinsic
plasmon group velocity in the q \rightarrow 0 limit
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