Observation of quantum Hall plateau-plateau transition and scaling behavior of the zeroth Landau level in graphene p-n-p junctions

TL;DR

This study demonstrates high-quality graphene p-n-p junctions exhibiting quantum Hall effects and scaling behavior of the zeroth Landau level, achieved through a resist-free fabrication method that preserves high mobility.

Contribution

It introduces a resist-free fabrication technique for graphene p-n-p junctions that maintains high mobility and reveals quantum Hall plateau transitions and scaling behavior of the zeroth Landau level.

Findings

Observation of quantum Hall plateau-plateau transition.

Scaling behavior of the zeroth Landau level with a low exponent.

Validation of Landau level assignment through transition point analysis.

Abstract

We report distinctive magnetotransport properties of a graphene p-n-p junction prepared by controlled diffusion of metallic contacts. In most cases, materials deposited on a graphene surface introduce substantial carrier scattering, which greatly reduces the high mobility of intrinsic graphene. However, we show that an oxide layer only weakly perturbs the carrier transport, which enables fabrication of a high-quality graphene p-n-p junction through a one-step and resist-free method. The measured conductance-gate voltage $(G-V_G)$ curves can be well described by a metal contact model, which confirms the charge density depinning due to the oxide layer. The graphene p-n-p junction samples exhibit pronounced quantum Hall effect, a well-defined transition point of the zeroth Landau level (LL), and scaling behavior. The scaling exponent obtained from the evolution of the zeroth LL width as a function of temperature exhibits a relatively low value of $\kappa=0.21\pm0.01$. Moreover, we calculate the energy level for the LLs based on the distribution of plateau-plateau transition points, further validating the assignment of the LL index of the QH plateau-plateau transition.