Gate-modulated electronic transport through a graphene nanoribbon composed of nanoribbons of different widths

Abstract

Based on the non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) method combined with the density functional theory (DFT), we have studied the gate-modulated electronic properties of a graphene nanoribbon (GNR) which is composed of two GNRs of different widths. The results show that the charge transport is greatly modulated by the applied gate. Negative differential resistance (NDR) behaviors is found in such a system. With the increase in the gate, the NDR behaviors will disappear and reappear. Furthermore, under certain gate voltages multiple NDR behavior is found, the origin of which is attributed to the change of the number of effective transport channels and the variation of delocalization degree of the orbitals within the bias window. Interestingly, low bias NDR behavior is obtained which is desirable for integrated circuits from the point view of power consumption.