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Revealing the electronic band structure of quasi-free trilayer graphene on SiC(0001)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2014

C. Coletti*
Affiliation:
Center for Nanotechnology Innovation @ NEST, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Piazza San Silvestro 12, I-56127 Pisa, IT Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung, Heisenbergstr. 1, D-70569 Stuttgart, DE
S. Forti
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung, Heisenbergstr. 1, D-70569 Stuttgart, DE
A. Principi
Affiliation:
NEST, Istituto Nanoscienze-CNR and Scuola Normale Superiore, I-56126 Pisa, IT
K.V. Emtsev
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung, Heisenbergstr. 1, D-70569 Stuttgart, DE
A.A. Zakharov
Affiliation:
MAX-lab, Lund University, Lund, S-22100, SE
K.M. Daniels
Affiliation:
University of South Carolina, 301 S. Main St, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
B.K. Daas
Affiliation:
University of South Carolina, 301 S. Main St, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
M.V.S. Chandrashekhar
Affiliation:
University of South Carolina, 301 S. Main St, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
A.H. MacDonald
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA
M. Polini
Affiliation:
NEST, Istituto Nanoscienze-CNR and Scuola Normale Superiore, I-56126 Pisa, IT
U. Starke
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung, Heisenbergstr. 1, D-70569 Stuttgart, DE
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Abstract

Recently, much attention has been devoted to trilayer graphene because it displays stacking and electric field dependent electronic properties well-suited for electronic and photonic applications [1-8]. Several theoretical studies have predicted the electronic dispersion of Bernal (ABA) and rhombohedral (ABC) stacked trilayers. However, a direct experimental visualization of a well-resolved band structure has not yet been reported. In this work, we obtain large area highly homogenous quasi-free trilayer graphene (TLG) on 6H-SiC(0001) and measure its electronic bands via angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). We demonstrate by low energy electron microscopy measurements that that trilayer domains on SiC extend over areas of tens of square micrometers. By fitting tight-binding bands to the experimental data we extract the interatomic hopping parameters for Bernal and rhombohedral stacked trilayers. For ABC stacks and in the presence of an electrostatic asymmetry, we detect the existence of a band-gap of about 120 meV. Notably our results suggest that on SiC substrates the occurrence of ABC-stacked TLG is significantly higher than in natural bulk graphite. Hence, growing TLG on SiC might be the answer to the challenge of controllably synthesizing ABC-stacked trilayer – an ideal material for the fabrication of a new class of gap-tunable devices.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2014 

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References

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