Lighting the Way to Graphene-based Devices: Berkeley Lab
Researchers Use Light to Dope Graphene Boron Nitride Heterostructures
Graphene continues to reign as the next potential superstar
material for the electronics industry, a slimmer, stronger and much faster electron conductor than silicon.
With no natural energy band-gap, however, graphene’s superfast conductance
can’t be switched off, a serious drawback for transistors and other electronic
devices. Various techniques have been deployed to overcome this problem with
one of the most promising being the integration of ultrathin layers of graphene
and boron nitride into two-dimensional heterostructures. As conductors, these
bilayered hybrids are almost as fast as pure graphene, plus they are
well-suited for making devices. However, tailoring the electronic properties of
graphene boron nitride (GBN) heterostructures has been a tricky affair,
involving chemical doping or electrostatic-gating – until now.