Semiconducting behavior of substitutionally doped bilayer graphene

Abstract

In the framework of the Green's functions approach, random tight-binding model and using the coherent potential approximation, electronic characteristics of the bilayer graphene are investigated by exploring various forms of substitutional doping of a single or both layers of the system by either boron and (or) nitrogen atoms. The results for displacement of the Fermi level resemble the behavior of acceptor or donor doping in a conventional semiconductor, dependent on the impurity type and concentration. The particular pattern of doping of just one layer with one impurity type is most efficient for opening a gap within the energy bands which could be tuned directly by impurity concentration. Doping both layers at the same time, each with one impurity type, leads to an anomaly whereby the gap decreases with increasing impurity concentration.