Electronic transport through bilayer graphene flakes

TL;DR

This paper explores how electronic transport in bilayer graphene flakes varies with energy and geometry, revealing oscillations in conductance that could enable switch design and interlayer hopping measurement.

Contribution

It introduces a combined tight-binding and continuum Dirac model analysis of finite bilayer graphene flakes with novel conductance oscillation behavior.

Findings

Conductance oscillates between zero and maximum in certain energy ranges.

The behavior depends on the geometry and size of the bilayer flakes.

Potential application in electromechanical switch design.

Abstract

We investigate the electronic transport properties of a bilayer graphene flake contacted by two monolayer nanoribbons. Such a finite-size bilayer flake can be built by overlapping two semiinfinite ribbons or by depositing a monolayer flake onto an infinite nanoribbon. These two structures have a complementary behavior, that we study and analyze by means of a tight-binding method and a continuum Dirac model. We have found that for certain energy ranges and geometries, the conductance of these systems oscillates markedly between zero and the maximum value of the conductance, allowing for the design of electromechanical switches. Our understanding of the electronic transmission through bilayer flakes may provide a way to measure the interlayer hopping in bilayer graphene.