Suyong Jung

Electromechanical properties of graphene drumheads

Straining Suspended Graphene The electronic properties of graphene are best displayed by suspended sheets free from contact with an underlying substrate. Klimov et al. (p. 1557) probed how deformation of suspended graphene sheets could lead to further tuning of its electronic properties with a scanning tunneling microscope; the graphene sheets could also be deformed via an electric field from an underlying electrode. Spectroscopic studies reveal that the induced strain led to charge-carrier localization into spatially confined quantum dots, an effect consistent with the formation of strain-induced pseudomagnetic fields. Mechanical straining of suspended graphene films leads to confinement of charge carriers into quantum dots. We determined the electromechanical properties of a suspended graphene layer by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) measurements, as well as computational simulations of the graphene-membrane mechanics and morphology. A graphene membrane was continuously deformed by controlling the competing interactions with a STM probe tip and the electric field from a back-gate electrode. The probe tip–induced deformation created a localized strain field in the graphene lattice. STS measurements on the deformed suspended graphene display an electronic spectrum completely different from that of graphene supported by a substrate. The spectrum indicates the formation of a spatially confined quantum dot, in agreement with recent predictions of confinement by strain-induced pseudomagnetic fields.

Evolution of microscopic localization in graphene in a magnetic field from scattering resonances to quantum dots

The effects of disorder on the electrical characteristics of graphene are found to change drastically in a magnetic field. At zero field, disorder simply causes charge scattering. But at high fields it induces the formation of a network of quantum dots.

Microscopic polarization in bilayer graphene

Its tunable energy bandgap makes bilayer graphene interesting both from a theoretical perspective and with a view to applications. But exactly how the bandgap is formed is still unclear. A scanning tunnelling spectroscopy study now finds that the microscopic picture of the gap is fundamentally different from what is expected from macroscopic measurements and currently developed theories.

Enhanced carrier transport along edges of graphene devices.

The relation between macroscopic charge transport properties and microscopic carrier distribution is one of the central issues in the physics and future applications of graphene devices (GDs). We find strong conductance enhancement at the edges of GDs using scanning gate microscopy. This result is explained by our theoretical model of the opening of an additional conduction channel localized at the edges by depleting accumulated charge by the tip.

Mechanism for puddle formation in graphene

When graphene is close to charge neutrality, its energy landscape is highly inhomogeneous, forming a sea of electron-like and hole-like puddles that determine the properties of graphene at low carrier density. However, the details of the puddle formation have remained elusive. We demonstrate numerically that in sharp contrast to monolayer graphene, the normalized autocorrelation function for the puddle landscape in bilayer graphene depends only on the distance between the graphene and the source of the long-ranged impurity potential. By comparing with available experimental data, we find quantitative evidence for the implied differences in scanning tunneling microscopy measurements of electron and hole puddles for monolayer and bilayer graphene in nominally the same disorder potential.

Vibrational Properties of h-BN and h-BN-Graphene Heterostructures Probed by Inelastic Electron Tunneling Spectroscopy

Inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy is a powerful technique for investigating lattice dynamics of nanoscale systems including graphene and small molecules, but establishing a stable tunnel junction is considered as a major hurdle in expanding the scope of tunneling experiments. Hexagonal boron nitride is a pivotal component in two-dimensional Van der Waals heterostructures as a high-quality insulating material due to its large energy gap and chemical-mechanical stability. Here we present planar graphene/h-BN-heterostructure tunneling devices utilizing thin h-BN as a tunneling insulator. With much improved h-BN-tunneling-junction stability, we are able to probe all possible phonon modes of h-BN and graphite/graphene at Γ and K high symmetry points by inelastic tunneling spectroscopy. Additionally, we observe that low-frequency out-of-plane vibrations of h-BN and graphene lattices are significantly modified at heterostructure interfaces. Equipped with an external back gate, we can also detect high-order coupling phenomena between phonons and plasmons, demonstrating that h-BN-based tunneling device is a wonderful playground for investigating electron-phonon couplings in low-dimensional systems.

Three Dimensionally Structured CdTe Thin-Film Photovoltaic Devices with Self-Aligned Back-Contacts: Electrodeposition on Interdigitated Electrodes

Cadmium telluride is a commercially viable material for thin-film photovoltaic cells and is amenable to low cost electrochemical deposition. The majority-carrier type can be controlled by deposition conditions. We have produced back-contact thin-film solar cells by a self-aligned electrochemical deposition process onto two interdigitated electrodes. We report preliminary performance as a function of electrode geometry. The process and structure are readily amenable to optimization and should facilitate quantitative measurement and modeling of any candidate material that can be electrodeposited.

Dependence of coincidence frequency in double-glazed window on glass thickness and interpane cavity

Abstract The dependency of transmission loss (TL) and coincidence frequency on front pane thickness, interpane distance, and back pane thickness of double grazing window were investigated, and the results were compared to previously published ones to test the consistency of our finding. The coincidence frequency shifted toward low frequency as back pane thickness increases. This tendency was independent of interpane distance and measurement conditions.

Direct Probing of the Electronic Structures of Single-Layer and Bilayer Graphene with a Hexagonal Boron Nitride Tunneling Barrier

The chemical and mechanical stability of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) thin films and their compatibility with other free-standing two-dimensional (2D) crystals to form van der Waals heterostructures make the h-BN-2D tunnel junction an intriguing experimental platform not only for the engineering of specific device functionalities but also for the promotion of quantum measurement capabilities. Here, we exploit the h-BN-graphene tunnel junction to directly probe the electronic structures of single-layer and bilayer graphene in the presence and the absence of external magnetic fields with unprecedented high signal-to-noise ratios. At a zero magnetic field, we identify the tunneling spectra related to the charge neutrality point and the opening of the electric-field-induced bilayer energy gap. In the quantum Hall regime, the quantization of 2D electron gas into Landau levels (LL) is seen as early as 0.2 T, and as many as 30 well-separated LL tunneling conductance oscillations are observed for both electron- and hole-doped regions. Our device simulations successfully reproduce the experimental observations. Additionally, we extract the relative permittivity of three-to-five layer h-BN and find that the screening capability of thin h-BN films is as much as 60% weaker than bulk h-BN.

Broken-Symmetry Quantum Hall States in Twisted Bilayer Graphene

Twisted bilayer graphene offers a unique bilayer two-dimensional-electron system where the layer separation is only in sub-nanometer scale. Unlike Bernal-stacked bilayer, the layer degree of freedom is disentangled from spin and valley, providing eight-fold degeneracy in the low energy states. We have investigated broken-symmetry quantum Hall (QH) states and their transitions due to the interplay of the relative strength of valley, spin and layer polarizations in twisted bilayer graphene. The energy gaps of the broken-symmetry QH states show an electron-hole asymmetric behaviour, and their dependence on the induced displacement field are opposite between even and odd filling factor states. These results strongly suggest that the QH states with broken valley and spin symmetries for individual layer become hybridized via interlayer tunnelling, and the hierarchy of the QH states is sensitive to both magnetic field and displacement field due to charge imbalance between layers.