P. Nemes-Incze

Anomalies in thickness measurements of graphene and few layer graphite crystals by tapping mode atomic force microscopy

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) in the tapping (intermittent contact) mode is a commonly used tool to measure the thickness of graphene and few layer graphene (FLG) flakes on silicon oxide surfaces. It is a convenient tool to quickly determine the thickness of individual FLG films. However, reports from literature show a large variation of the measured thickness of graphene layers. This paper is focused on the imaging mechanism of tapping mode AFM (TAFM) when measuring graphene and FLG thickness, and we show that at certain measurement parameters significant deviations can be introduced in the measured thickness of FLG flakes. An increase of as much as 1 nm can be observed in the measured height of FLG crystallites, when using an improperly chosen range of free amplitude values of the tapping cantilever. We present comparative Raman spectroscopy and TAFM measurements on selected single and multilayer graphene films, based on which we suggest ways to correctly measure graphene and FLG thickness using TAFM.

Tuning the electronic structure of graphene by ion irradiation

Mechanically exfoliated graphene layers deposited on

Breakdown of continuum mechanics for nanometre-wavelength rippling of graphene

{\text{SiO}}_{2}

Raman scattering at pure graphene zigzag edges.

substrate were irradiated with

Mapping the electronic properties of individual graphene grain boundaries

{\text{Ar}}^{+}

Revealing the grain structure of graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition

ions in order to experimentally study the effect of atomic scale defects and disorder on the low-energy electronic structure of graphene. The irradiated samples were investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy measurements, which reveal that defect sites, besides acting as scattering centers for electrons through local modification of the on-site potential, also induce disorder in the hopping amplitudes. The most important consequence of the induced disorder is the substantial reduction in the Fermi velocity, revealed by bias-dependent imaging of electron-density oscillations observed near defect sites.

Electrostatically Confined Monolayer Graphene Quantum Dots with Orbital and Valley Splittings

It is known that graphene exhibits natural ripples with characteristic lengths of around 10 nm. But when it is stretched across nanometre-scale trenches that form in a reconstructed copper surface, it develops even tighter corrugations that cannot be explained by continuum theory.

Controlling the nanoscale rippling of graphene with SiO2 nanoparticles

Theory has predicted rich and very distinct physics for graphene devices with boundaries that follow either the armchair or the zigzag crystallographic directions. A prerequisite to disclose this physics in experiment is to be able to produce devices with boundaries of pure chirality. Exfoliated flakes frequently exhibit corners with an odd multiple of 30°, which raised expectations that their boundaries follow pure zigzag and armchair directions. The predicted Raman behavior at such crystallographic edges however failed to confirm pure edge chirality. Here, we perform confocal Raman spectroscopy on hexagonal holes obtained after the anisotropic etching of prepatterned pits using carbothermal decomposition of SiO(2). The boundaries of the hexagonal holes are aligned along the zigzag crystallographic direction and leave hardly any signature in the Raman map indicating unprecedented purity of the edge chirality. This work offers the first opportunity to experimentally confirm the validity of the Raman theory for graphene edges.

Tuning the Pseudospin Polarization of Graphene by a Pseudomagnetic Field

Grain boundaries, the characteristic topological defects of chemical vapor deposition grown graphene samples, are expected to substantially alter the electronic properties of the unperturbed graphene lattice. However, there is very little experimental insight into the underlying mechanisms. Here, we systematically map the electronic properties of individual graphene grain boundaries by scanning tunneling microscopy and spatially resolved tunneling spectroscopy measurements. The tunneling spectroscopy data reveal that the conductivity inside the boundaries is markedly suppressed for both electron and hole-type charge carriers. Furthermore, graphene grain boundaries can give rise to n-type inversion channels within the p-doped graphene sheets, forming p-n junctions with sharp interfaces on the nanometer scale. These properties persist for grain boundaries of various configurations and are robust against structural disorder.

Large tunable valley splitting in edge-free graphene quantum dots on boron nitride

The physical processes occurring in the presence of disorder: point defects, grain boundaries, etc. may have detrimental effects on the electronic properties of graphene. Here we present an approach to reveal the grain structure of graphene by the selective oxidation of defects and subsequent atomic force microscopy analysis. This technique offers a quick and easy alternative to different electron microscopy and diffraction methods and may be used to give quick feedback on the quality of graphene samples grown by chemical vapor deposition.