Novel band structures in germanene on aluminium nitride substrate

Abstract

Germanene is difficult to grow epitaxially on conventional semiconductor substrates, and to open a sizable band gap is also a hot topic. Using first-principles calculations, we investigate the structural and electronic properties of germanene/aluminium nitride heterobilayers (Ge/AlN HBLs). The results indicate that the Dirac cone with the nearly linear band dispersion of germanene is almost maintained in the band gap of the substrate. Very low effective masses and high carrier mobilities are achieved, and the band gap of germanene can be effectively tuned from 0.004 to 0.46 eV. These results suggest a possible method to design effective field effect transistors that can operate at room temperature.