Magnetic-field driven ambipolar quantum Hall effect in epitaxial graphene close to the charge neutrality point

TL;DR

This study investigates disorder in epitaxial graphene near the charge neutrality point, revealing low disorder levels and unique ambipolar magnetoresistance behavior linked to substrate step effects.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive analysis of disorder and ambipolar effects in epitaxial graphene, proposing substrate steps as a key factor for the observed phenomena.

Findings

Disorder amplitude estimated at (20 ± 10) meV.

Resistivity diverges at low temperature near CNP.

Ambipolar magnetoresistance observed systematically.

Abstract

We have investigated the disorder of epitaxial graphene close to the charge neutrality point (CNP) by various methods: i) at room temperature, by analyzing the dependence of the resistivity on the Hall coefficient ; ii) by fitting the temperature dependence of the Hall coefficient down to liquid helium temperature; iii) by fitting the magnetoresistances at low temperature. All methods converge to give a disorder amplitude of $(20 \pm 10)$ meV. Because of this relatively low disorder, close to the CNP, at low temperature, the sample resistivity does not exhibit the standard value $\simeq h/4e^2$ but diverges. Moreover, the magnetoresistance curves have a unique ambipolar behavior, which has been systematically observed for all studied samples. This is a signature of both asymmetry in the density of states and in-plane charge transfer. The microscopic origin of this behavior cannot be unambiguously determined. However, we propose a model in which the SiC substrate steps qualitatively explain the ambipolar behavior.