Observation of reduced 1/f noise in Graphene field effect transistors on Boron Nitride substrates

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that graphene transistors on boron nitride substrates exhibit significantly reduced 1/f noise compared to those on silicon dioxide, due to fewer impurities and trap sites, enhancing their electronic performance.

Contribution

It provides experimental evidence that h-BN substrates lower flicker noise in graphene devices, highlighting a practical method for noise reduction in nanomaterial-based electronics.

Findings

Graphene on h-BN shows ten times lower flicker noise than on SiO2.

Noise amplitude peaks at Dirac point for h-BN devices, indicating reduced charge puddles.

h-BN substrates improve electronic stability and reduce charge inhomogeneity.

Abstract

We have investigated the low frequency (f) flicker (also called 1/f) noise of single-layer graphene devices on h-BN (placed on SiO2/Si) along with those on SiO2/Si. We observe that the devices fabricated on h-BN have on average one order of magnitude lower noise amplitude compared with devices fabricated on SiO2/Si. We associate this noise reduction to the lower densities of impurities and trap sites in h-BN than in SiO2. Furthermore, the gate voltage dependent noise amplitude shows a broad maximum at Dirac point for devices on h-BN, in contrast to the M-shaped behavior showing a minimum at Dirac point for devices on SiO2, consistent with the reduced charge inhomogeneity (puddles) for graphene on h-BN. This study demonstrates that the use of h-BN as a substrate or dielectric can be a simple and efficient noise reduction technique valuable for electronic applications of graphene and other nanomaterials.