We describe monocrystalline graphitic films, which are a few atoms thick but are nonetheless stable under ambient conditions, metallic, and of remarkably high quality. The films are found to be a two-dimensional semimetal with a tiny overlap between valence and conductance bands, and they exhibit a strong ambipolar electric field effect such that electrons and holes in concentrations up to 10 13 per square centimeter and with room-temperature mobilities of ∼10,000 square centimeters per volt-second can be induced by applying gate voltage.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/306/5696/666.full.pdf

Electric Field Effect in Atomically Thin Carbon Films

THE synthesis of molecular carbon structures in the form of C60 and other fullerenes1 has stimulated intense interest in the structures accessible to graphitic carbon sheets. Here I report the preparation of a new type of finite carbon structure consisting of needle-like tubes. Produced using an arc-discharge evaporation method similar to that used for fullerene synthesis, the needles grow at the negative end of the electrode used for the arc discharge. Electron microscopy reveals that each needle comprises coaxial tubes of graphitic sheets, ranging in number from 2 up to about 50. On each tube the carbon-atom hexagons are arranged in a helical fashion about the needle axis. The helical pitch varies from needle to needle and from tube to tube within a single needle. It appears that this helical structure may aid the growth process. The formation of these needles, ranging from a few to a few tens of nanometres in diameter, suggests that engineering of carbon structures should be possible on scales considerably greater than those relevant to the fullerenes. On 7 November 1991, Sumio Iijima announced in Nature the preparation of nanometre-size, needle-like tubes of carbon — now familiar as 'nanotubes'. Used in microelectronic circuitry and microscopy, and as a tool to test quantum mechanics and model biological systems, nanotubes seem to have unlimited potential.

Helical microtubules of graphitic carbon

Graphene is a rapidly rising star on the horizon of materials science and condensed-matter physics. This strictly two-dimensional material exhibits exceptionally high crystal and electronic quality, and, despite its short history, has already revealed a cornucopia of new physics and potential applications, which are briefly discussed here. Whereas one can be certain of the realness of applications only when commercial products appear, graphene no longer requires any further proof of its importance in terms of fundamental physics. Owing to its unusual electronic spectrum, graphene has led to the emergence of a new paradigm of 'relativistic' condensed-matter physics, where quantum relativistic phenomena, some of which are unobservable in high-energy physics, can now be mimicked and tested in table-top experiments. More generally, graphene represents a conceptually new class of materials that are only one atom thick, and, on this basis, offers new inroads into low-dimensional physics that has never ceased to surprise and continues to provide a fertile ground for applications.

The rise of graphene

Three parallel algorithms for classical molecular dynamics are presented. The first assigns each processor a fixed subset of atoms; the second assigns each a fixed subset of inter-atomic forces to compute; the third assigns each a fixed spatial region. The algorithms are suitable for molecular dynamics models which can be difficult to parallelize efficiently—those with short-range forces where the neighbors of each atom change rapidly. They can be implemented on any distributed-memory parallel machine which allows for message-passing of data between independently executing processors. The algorithms are tested on a standard Lennard-Jones benchmark problem for system sizes ranging from 500 to 100,000,000 atoms on several parallel supercomputers--the nCUBE 2, Intel iPSC/860 and Paragon, and Cray T3D. Comparing the results to the fastest reported vectorized Cray Y-MP and C90 algorithm shows that the current generation of parallel machines is competitive with conventional vector supercomputers even for small problems. For large problems, the spatial algorithm achieves parallel efficiencies of 90% and a 1840-node Intel Paragon performs up to 165 faster than a single Cray C9O processor. Trade-offs between the three algorithms and guidelines for adapting them to more complex molecular dynamics simulations are also discussed.

Fast parallel algorithms for short-range molecular dynamics

This article reviews the basic theoretical aspects of graphene, a one-atom-thick allotrope of carbon, with unusual two-dimensional Dirac-like electronic excitations. The Dirac electrons can be controlled by application of external electric and magnetic fields, or by altering sample geometry and/or topology. The Dirac electrons behave in unusual ways in tunneling, confinement, and the integer quantum Hall effect. The electronic properties of graphene stacks are discussed and vary with stacking order and number of layers. Edge (surface) states in graphene depend on the edge termination (zigzag or armchair) and affect the physical properties of nanoribbons. Different types of disorder modify the Dirac equation leading to unusual spectroscopic and transport properties. The effects of electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions in single layer and multilayer graphene are also presented.

/pdf/the-electronic-properties-of-graphene-2siyzsnf5w.pdf

The electronic properties of graphene

The Si/Sil−xGex quantum well system is attractive for high temperature thermoelectric applications and for demonstration of proof-of-principle for enhanced thermoelectric figure of merit Z, since the interfaces and carrier densities can be well controlled in this system. We report here theoretical calculations for Z in this system, and results from theoretical modeling of quantum confinement effects in the presence of δ-doping within the barrier layers. The δ-doping layers are introduced by growing very thin layers of wide band gap materials within the barrier layers in order to increase the effective barrier height within the barriers and thereby reduce the barrier width necessary for the quantum confinement of carriers within the quantum well. The overall figure of merit is thereby enhanced due to the reduced barrier width and hence reduced thermal conductivity, dd. The δ-doping should further reduce dd in the barriers by introducing phonon scattering centers within the barrier region. The temperature dependence of Z for Si quantum wells is also discussed.

Quantum Confinement Effects on the Thermoelectric Figure of Merit in Si/Si1-xGex System

Inter-allotropic transformations of carbon are provided using moderate conditions including alternating voltage pulses and modest temperature elevation. By controlling the pulse magnitude, small-diameter single-walled carbon nanotubes are transformed into larger-diameter single-walled carbon nanotubes, multi-walled carbon nanotubes of different morphologies, and multi-layered graphene nanoribbons.

Fabrication of Carbon Nanoribbons from Carbon Nanotube Arrays

Carbon Nanotubes and Bismuth Nanowires

Connecting Carbon Nanotubes

High-performance materials rely on small reorganization energies to facilitate both charge separation and charge transport. Here, we performed DFT calculations to predict small reorganization energies of rectangular silicene nanoclusters with hydrogen-passivated edges denoted by H-SiNC. We observe that across all geometries, H-SiNCs feature large electron affinities and highly stabilized anionic states, indicating their potential as n-type materials. Our findings suggest that fine-tuning the size of H-SiNCs along the zigzag and armchair directions may permit the design of novel n-type electronic materials and spinctronics devices that incorporate both high electron affinities and very low internal reorganization energies.

Mildred S. Dresselhaus

Papers

Quantum Confinement Effects on the Thermoelectric Figure of Merit in Si/Si1-xGex System

Fabrication of Carbon Nanoribbons from Carbon Nanotube Arrays

Carbon Nanotubes and Bismuth Nanowires

Connecting Carbon Nanotubes

Exploring Low Internal Reorganization Energies for Silicene Nanoclusters