Abstract
In this review we highlight recent theoretical and experimental work on sublattice asymmetric doping of impurities in graphene, with a focus on substitutional nitrogen dopants. It is well known that one current limitation of graphene in regards to its use in electronics is that in its ordinary state it exhibits no band gap. By doping one of its two sublattices preferentially it is possible to not only open such a gap, which can furthermore be tuned through control of the dopant concentration, but in theory produce quasi-ballistic transport of electrons in the undoped sublattice, both important qualities for any graphene device to be used competetively in future technology. We outline current experimental techniques for synthesis of such graphene monolayers and detail theoretical efforts to explain the mechanisms responsible for the effect, before suggesting future research directions in this nascent field.
Highlights
With its excellent transport properties and low dimensionality, graphene, an atomically thin layer of Carbon atoms bonded together in a hexagonal lattice, initially seems a strong candidate for use in many future commercial applications such as ultra high-speed transistors, integrated circuits and other novel devices [1,2,3]
One of the main problems with using regular graphene for such applications is the absence of a band gap in the electronic band structure [4], and as a result any field effect transistors (FETs) made using the material would be unable to be switched off, rendering it useless as a logic device [5,6,7]
Further research has uncovered a less pronounced asymmetry phenomenon using graphene implanted with nitrogen impurities followed by a high temperature annealing process [25], and it seems reasonable that there is a common mechanism with the chemical vapour deposition (CVD) method
Summary
With its excellent transport properties and low dimensionality, graphene, an atomically thin layer of Carbon atoms bonded together in a hexagonal lattice, initially seems a strong candidate for use in many future commercial applications such as ultra high-speed transistors, integrated circuits and other novel devices [1,2,3]. Further research has uncovered a less pronounced asymmetry phenomenon using graphene implanted with nitrogen impurities followed by a high temperature annealing process [25], and it seems reasonable that there is a common mechanism with the CVD method.
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