A. Veligura

Electronic spin transport in graphene field-effect transistors

Spin transport experiments in graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms ordered in a honeycomb lattice, indicate spin-relaxation times that are significantly shorter than the theoretical predictions. We investigate experimentally whether these short spin-relaxation times are due to extrinsic factors, such as spin relaxation caused by low impedance contacts, enhanced spin-flip processes at the device edges, or the presence of an aluminum oxide layer on top of graphene in some samples. Lateral spin valve devices using a field-effect transistor geometry allowed for the investigation of the spin relaxation as a function of the charge density, going continuously from metallic hole to electron conduction (charge densities of n similar to 10(12) cm(-2)) via the Dirac charge neutrality point (n similar to 0). The results are quantitatively described by a one-dimensional spin-diffusion model where the spin relaxation via the contacts is taken into account. Spin valve experiments for various injector-detector separations and spin precession experiments reveal that the longitudinal (T-1) and the transversal (T-2) relaxation times are similar. The anisotropy of the spin-relaxation times tau and tau(perpendicular to), when the spins are injected parallel or perpendicular to the graphene plane, indicates that the effective spin-orbit fields do not lie exclusively in the two-dimensional graphene plane. Furthermore, the proportionality between the spin-relaxation time and the momentum-relaxation time indicates that the spin-relaxation mechanism is of the Elliott-Yafet type. For carrier mobilities of 2x10(3)-5x10(3) cm(2)/V s and for graphene flakes of 0.1-2 mu m in width, we found spin-relaxation times on the order of 50-200 ps, times which appear not to be determined by the extrinsic factors mentioned above.

Quantized conductance of a suspended graphene nanoconstriction

Quantization of the current flowing across a nanometre-scale constriction in graphene is usually destroyed through charge-scattering from rough edges and impurities. But by using high-quality suspended samples and a constriction whose length is shorter than its width, conductance quantization in graphene has now been demonstrated.

Anisotropic Spin Relaxation in Graphene

Spin relaxation in graphene is investigated in electrical graphene spin valve devices in the nonlocal geometry. Ferromagnetic electrodes with in-plane magnetizations inject spins parallel to the graphene layer. They are subject to Hanle spin precession under a magnetic field B applied perpendicular to the graphene layer. Fields above 1.5 T force the magnetization direction of the ferromagnetic contacts to align to the field, allowing injection of spins perpendicular to the graphene plane. A comparison of the spin signals at B=0 and B=2 T shows a 20% decrease in spin relaxation time for spins perpendicular to the graphene layer compared to spins parallel to the layer. We analyze the results in terms of the different strengths of the spin-orbit effective fields in the in-plane and out-of-plane directions and discuss the role of the Elliott-Yafet and Dyakonov-Perel mechanisms for spin relaxation.

Linear scaling between momentum- and spin scattering in graphene

Spin transport in graphene carries the potential of a long spin-diffusion length at room temperature. However, extrinsic relaxation processes limit the current experimental values to 1-2 mu m. We present Hanle spin precession measurements in gated lateral spin valve devices in the low to high (up to 10(13) cm(-2)) carrier density range of graphene. A linear scaling between the spin-diffusion length and the diffusion coefficient is observed. We measure nearly identical spin- and charge diffusion coefficients indicating that electron-electron interactions are relatively weak and transport is limited by impurity potential scattering. When extrapolated to the maximum carrier mobilities of 2x10(5) cm(2)/Vs, our results predict that a considerable increase in the spin-diffusion length should be possible.

Large‐Yield Preparation of High‐Electronic‐Quality Graphene by a Langmuir–Schaefer Approach

Graphene was discovered less than five years ago and proved the existence of pure two-dimensional systems, thought physically impossible in the past. It appeared very quickly that this exceptionalmaterial showedmany outstanding properties. Since electrons and holes in graphene have potential for high carrier mobilities, this novel material has become an exciting new playground for physicists; properties such as the halfinteger quantum Hall effect at room temperature, spin transport, high elasticity, electromechanicalmodulation, and ferromagnetism all contribute to the fame of graphene. Since the first experiments conducted five years ago on micromechanically cleaved graphite (the renowned but lowyield adhesive tape method), the growing appeal of graphene’s properties has focused much of the research attention towards the conception of a reliable method for large-scale production. Recent advances using chemical vapor deposition and successful transfer of the prepared films to arbitrary substrates brought impressive results in terms of crystalline quality of the layers and consequent electrical and mechanical properties. Notwithstanding these results, truly controllable singleor multilayer large-scale deposition is still a pressing issue and a method for depositing high-quality graphene at variable coverage on an arbitrary surface is not yet available. Moreover, for practical application or simply for fundamental research purposes, good adhesion of graphene to the substrate is of great importance.

Spin Transport in High-Quality Suspended Graphene Devices

We measure spin transport in high mobility suspended graphene (μ ≈ 10(5)cm(2)/(V s)), obtaining a (spin) diffusion coefficient of 0.1 m(2)/s and giving a lower bound on the spin relaxation time (τ(s) ≈ 150 ps) and spin relaxation length (λ(s) = 4.7 μm) for intrinsic graphene. We develop a theoretical model considering the different graphene regions of our devices that explains our experimental data.

Large yield production of high mobility freely suspended graphene electronic devices on a polydimethylglutarimide based organic polymer

The recent observation of a fractional quantum Hall effect in high mobility suspended graphene devices introduced a new direction in graphene physics, the field of electron–electron interaction dynamics. However, the technique used currently for the fabrication of such high mobility devices has several drawbacks. The most important is that the contact materials available for electronic devices are limited to only a few metals (Au, Pd, Pt, Cr, and Nb) because only those are not attacked by the reactive acid etching fabrication step. Here we show a new technique that leads to mechanically stable suspended high mobility graphene devices and is compatible with almost any type of contact material. The graphene devices prepared on a polydimethylglutarimide based organic resist show mobilities as high as 600.000 cm2/Vs at an electron carrier density of n = 5.0 × 109 cm−2 at 77 K. This technique paves the way toward complex suspended graphene based spintronic, superconducting, and other types of devices.

Relating hysteresis and electrochemistry in graphene field effect transistors

Hysteresis and commonly observed p-doping of graphene based field effect transistors (FETs) have been discussed in reports over the last few years. However, the interpretation of experimental works differs; and the mechanism behind the appearance of the hysteresis and the role of charge transfer between graphene and its environment is not clarified yet. We analyze the relation between electrochemical and electronic properties of graphene FETs in a moist environment extracted from the standard back gate dependence of the graphene resistance. We argue that graphene based FETs on a regular SiO2 substrate exhibit behavior that corresponds to electrochemically induced hysteresis in ambient conditions, and can be caused by a charge trapping mechanism associated with sensitivity of graphene to the local pH.

Transport gap in suspended bilayer graphene at zero magnetic field

We report a change of three orders of magnitude in the resistance of a suspended bilayer graphene flake which varies from a few kin the high-carrier-density regime to several Maround the charge neutrality point (CNP). The corresponding transport gap is 8 meV at 0.3 K. The sequence of quantum Hall plateaus appearing at filling factor ν = 2 followed by ν = 1 suggests that the observed gap is caused by the symmetry breaking of the lowest Landau level. Investigation of the gap in a tilted magnetic fields indicates that the resistance at the CNP shows a weak linear decrease for increasing total magnetic field. Those observations are in agreement with a spontaneous valley splitting at zero magnetic field followed by splitting of the spins originating from different valleys with increasing magnetic field. Both the transport gap and B field response point toward the spin-polarized layer-antiferromagnetic state as the ground state in the bilayer graphene sample. The observed nontrivial dependence of the gap value on the normal component of B suggests possible exchange mechanisms in the system.

Spin splitting in graphene studied by means of tilted magnetic-field experiments

We have measured the spin splitting in single-layer and bilayer graphene by means of tilted magnetic-field experiments. By applying the Lifshitz-Kosevich formula for the spin-induced decrease of the Shubnikov-de Haas amplitudes with increasing tilt angle, we directly determine the product between the carrier cyclotron mass m* and the effective g factor g* as a function of the charge-carrier concentration. By using the cyclotron mass for a single-layer and a bilayer graphene, we find an enhanced g factor g* = 2.7 +/- 0.2 for both systems.