Electronic transport in graphene nanoribbons with correlated line-edge roughness

Abstract

In this paper, the impact of correlation between two line-edge roughnesses (LERs) on electronic transport in armchair graphene nanoribbons (AGNRs) is investigated, employing an atomistic model based on the non-equilibrium Greens function formalism. For demonstrating the influence of this correlation, crucial transport properties like mean free path and localization lengths corresponding to different sets of roughnesses and geometrical parameters are extracted. The results indicate the substantial role of the degree of cross-correlation in transport characteristics. Besides, for showing its importance in practice, some parameters in an AGNR-based field effect transistor relating to diverse correlations are provided. Additionally, an analytical compact model is developed to formulate conductance as a function of cross-correlation coefficient. The presented results offer novel insights into electronic transport in GNRs casting light on how the correlation of LERs should be regarded as the decisive factor in choosing an experimental approach for fabrication of GNRs.