# Stacking-dependent electronic property of trilayer graphene epitaxially grown on Ru(0001)

## TL;DR

This study investigates how stacking variations in trilayer graphene grown on Ru(0001) influence its atomic structure and electronic properties, revealing distinct electronic signatures for different stacking orders.

## Contribution

It provides detailed experimental and theoretical analysis of stacking-dependent electronic properties in trilayer graphene on Ru(0001), highlighting the impact of stacking order.

## Key findings

- ABC- and ABB-stacked TLG show sharp peaks near the Fermi level.
- The surface of TLG on Ru(0001) is flat with a hexagonal lattice.
- Different stacking orders lead to distinct electronic density of states.

## Abstract

The growth, atomic structure, and electronic property of trilayer graphene (TLG) on Ru(0001) were studied by low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy in combined with tight-binding approximation (TBA) calculations. TLG on Ru(0001) shows a flat surface with a hexagonal lattice due to the screening effect of the bottom two layers and the AB-stacking in the top two layers. The coexistence of AA- and AB-stacking in the bottom two layers leads to three different stacking orders of TLG, namely, ABA-, ABC-, and ABB-stacking. STS measurements combined with TBA calculations reveal that the density of states of TLG with ABC- and ABB-stacking is characterized by one and two sharp peaks near to the Fermi level, respectively, in contrast to the V-shaped feature of TLG with ABA-stacking. Our work demonstrates that TLG on Ru(0001) might be an ideal platform for exploring stacking-dependent electronic properties of graphene.

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1702.03045