Tunneling of Dirac electrons through spatial regions of finite mass

TL;DR

This paper investigates how Dirac electrons in graphene tunnel through regions with a finite mass gap, revealing reduced transmission at normal incidence, which could inform the design of graphene-based electronic devices.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of electron tunneling through a mass gap in graphene, contrasting it with potential barrier tunneling, and explores its implications for device engineering.

Findings

Transmission is less than one at normal incidence.

Tunneling behavior differs from potential barrier cases.

Potential applications in graphene electronics.

Abstract

We study the tunneling of chiral electrons in graphene through a region where the electronic spectrum changes from the usual linear dispersion to a hyperbolic dispersion, due to the presence of a gap. It is shown that contrary to the tunneling through a potential barrier, the transmission of electrons is, in this case, smaller than one for normal incidence. This mechanism may be useful for designing electronic devices made of graphene.