Substrate dopant induced electronic inhomogeneity in epitaxial bilayer graphene

TL;DR

This study reveals how nitrogen dopants in the substrate induce electronic inhomogeneity in epitaxial bilayer graphene, affecting its local electronic properties and highlighting substrate effects on 2D material quality.

Contribution

First direct imaging of nitrogen dopants in SiC substrate interacting with epitaxial graphene, showing substrate dopants induce electron-hole puddles and electronic inhomogeneity.

Findings

Nitrogen dopants create ~2 nm electron-lack puddles in graphene.

Puddles modulate the Fermi level by ~40 meV.

Substrate dopants significantly impact graphene's electronic uniformity.

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have become a new territory for exploring novel properties and functionalities because of their superior tunability. The unprecedented tunability of 2D materials is also accompanied by many and equally great challenges, as they are susceptible to defects and disorders. The presence of defects and disorders induces the inhomogeneity of electronic states, often making it difficult to directly probe the intrinsic properties of materials. Therefore, many efforts have been devoted to improve the electronic homogeneity, for example, by reducing the density of defects and disorders in the materials and at the interface. However, little attention is paid to the disorders embedded in underlying substrates. Here we investigate how individual dopants in substrate interact with 2D materials and give rise to the electron-hole puddles by low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy (STS). Specifically, we take the epitaxial bilayer graphene grown on nitrogen doped silicon carbide (SiC) substrates as a model system, which has played the essential roles in many applications and fundamental studies. The nitrogen dopants inside SiC substrate were imaged over the epitaxial graphene by STM for the first time. The charged nitrogen dopants from the substrate induce the electron-lack puddles in graphene with a diameter of ~2 nm, via Coulomb interaction. The Fermi level with respect to the Dirac point is modulated by the puddles with an amplitude of ~40 meV, causing the electronic inhomogeneity of epitaxial graphene. Our findings on this prototype material are expected to facilitate the quality improvement of graphene and other 2D materials in general.