Surface potential and thin film quality of low work function metals on epitaxial graphene.

Metal films deposited on graphene are known to influence its electronic properties, but little is known about graphene's interactions with very low work function rare earth metals. Here we report on the work functions of a wide range of metals deposited on n-type epitaxial graphene (EG) as measured by Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy (KPFM). We compare the behaviors of rare earth metals (Pr, Eu, Er, Yb, and Y) with commonly used noble metals (Cr, Cu, Rh, Ni, Au, and Pt). The rare earth films oxidize rapidly, and exhibit unique behaviors when on graphene. We find that the measured work function of the low work function group is consistently higher than predicted, unlike the noble metals, which is likely due to rapid oxidation during measurement. Some of the low work function metals interact with graphene; for example, Eu exhibits bonding anomalies along the metal-graphene perimeter. We observe no correlation between metal work function and photovoltage, implying the metal-graphene interface properties are a more determinant factor. Yb emerges as the best choice for future applications requiring a low-work function electrical contact on graphene. Yb films have the strongest photovoltage response and maintains a relatively low surface roughness, ~5 nm, despite sensitivity to oxidation.

Epitaxial graphene quantum dots for high-performance terahertz bolometers.

Light absorption in graphene causes a large change in electron temperature due to the low electronic heat capacity and weak electron-phonon coupling. This property makes graphene a very attractive material for hot-electron bolometers in the terahertz frequency range. Unfortunately, the weak variation of electrical resistance with temperature results in limited responsivity for absorbed power. Here, we show that, due to quantum confinement, quantum dots of epitaxial graphene on SiC exhibit an extraordinarily high variation of resistance with temperature (higher than 430 MΩ K(-1) below 6 K), leading to responsivities of 1 × 10(10) V W(-1), a figure that is five orders of magnitude higher than other types of graphene hot-electron bolometer. The high responsivity, combined with an extremely low electrical noise-equivalent power (∼2 × 10(-16) W Hz(-1/2) at 2.5 K), already places our bolometers well above commercial cooled bolometers. Additionally, we show that these quantum dot bolometers demonstrate good performance at temperature as high as 77 K.

Tunable Terahertz Hybrid Metal-Graphene Plasmons.

We report here a new type of plasmon resonance that occurs when graphene is connected to a metal. These new plasmon modes offer the potential to incorporate a tunable plasmonic channel into a device with electrical contacts, a critical step toward practical graphene terahertz optoelectronics. Through theory and experiments, we demonstrate, for example, anomalously high resonant absorption or transmission when subwavelength graphene-filled apertures are introduced into an otherwise conductive layer. These tunable plasmon resonances are essential yet missing ingredients needed for terahertz filters, oscillators, detectors, and modulators.

Indium Tin Oxide Nanowire Networks as Effective UV/Vis Photodetection Platforms.

We demonstrate that indium tin oxide nanowires (ITO NWs) and cationic polymer-modified ITO NWs configured in a network format can be used as high performing UV/vis photodetectors. The photovoltage response of ITO NWs is much higher than similarly constructed devices made from tin oxide, zinc tin oxide, and zinc oxide nanostructures. The ITO NW mesh-based devices exhibit a substantial photovoltage (31-100 mV under illumination with a 1.14 mW 543 nm laser) and photocurrent (225-325 µA at 3 V). The response time of the devices is fast with a rise time of 20-30 µs and a decay time of 1.5-3.7 ms when probed with a 355 nm pulsed laser. The photoresponsivity of the ITO NW devices ranges from 0.07 to 0.2 A/W at a 3 V bias, whose values are in the performance range of most commercial UV/vis photodetectors. Such useful photodetector characteristics from our ITO NW mesh devices are attained straightforwardly without the need for complicated fabrication procedures involving highly specialized lithographic tools. Therefore, our approach of ITO NW network-based photodetectors can serve as a convenient alternative to commercial or single NW-based devices.

Electron-hole transport and photovoltaic effect in gated MoS2 Schottky junctions.

Semiconducting molybdenum disulfphide has emerged as an attractive material for novel nanoscale optoelectronic devices due to its reduced dimensionality and large direct bandgap. Since optoelectronic devices require electron-hole generation/recombination, it is important to be able to fabricate ambipolar transistors to investigate charge transport both in the conduction band and in the valence band. Although n-type transistor operation for single-layer and few-layer MoS2 with gold source and drain contacts was recently demonstrated, transport in the valence band has been elusive for solid-state devices. Here we show that a multi-layer MoS2 channel can be hole-doped by palladium contacts, yielding MoS2 p-type transistors. When two different materials are used for the source and drain contacts, for example hole-doping Pd and electron-doping Au, the Schottky junctions formed at the MoS2 contacts produce a clear photovoltaic effect.

Electrical properties and memory effects of field-effect transistors from networks of single- and double-walled carbon nanotubes.

We study field-effect transistors made of single- and double-walled carbon nanotube networks for applications as memory devices. The transfer characteristics of the transistors exhibit a reproducible hysteresis which enables their use as nano-sized memory cells with operations faster than 10 ms, endurance longer than 10(+4) cycles and charge retention of a few hours in air. We propose water enhanced charge trapping at the SiO(2)/air interface close to the nanotubes as the dominant mechanism for charge storage. We show that charge storage can be improved by limiting exposure of the device to air.