Semiconductor to metal transition by tuning the location of N2AA in armchair graphene nanoribbons

Abstract

The electronic band structures and transport properties of N2AA-doped armchair graphene nanoribbons (aGNRs) with two quasi-adjacent substitutional nitrogen atoms incorporated in pairs of neighboring carbon atoms in the same sublattice A are investigated by using non-equilibrium Green function formalism in combination with density functional theory. The results show that the coupling effect between the Pz orbitals of carbon and nitrogen atoms plays an important role in the transition between semiconductor and metal by different locations of N2AA-doped aGNRs. And the striking negative differential resistance behaviors can be found in such devices. These tremendous properties suggest potential application of N2AA-doped aGNRs in graphene-based nanoelectronic devices.