Impurity and edge roughness scattering in armchair graphene nanoribbons: Boltzmann approach

TL;DR

This paper theoretically investigates how impurities and edge roughness affect the electrical conductivity of armchair graphene nanoribbons using the Boltzmann transport equation, revealing convergence to 2D behavior and confirming edge roughness effects.

Contribution

It provides a Boltzmann equation-based analysis of impurity and edge roughness scattering in armchair graphene nanoribbons, connecting subband effects to 2D limits and validating quantum simulation predictions.

Findings

Conductivity converges to 2D case with increasing subbands.

Edge roughness causes dips in magnetoconductivity at specific cyclotron radii.

Theoretical results align with recent quantum simulation observations.

Abstract

The conductivity of armchair graphene nanoribbons in the presence of short-range impurities and edge roughness is studied theoretically using the Boltzmann transport equation for quasi-one-dimensional systems. As the number of occupied subbands increases, the conductivity due to short-range impurities converges towards the two-dimensional case. Calculations of the magnetoconductivity confirm the edge-roughness-induced dips at cyclotron radii close to the ribbon width suggested by the recent quantum simulations.