Inhomogeneous screening of gate electric field by interface states in graphene FETs

Abstract

The electronic states at graphene-SiO2 interface and their inhomogeneity is investigated using the back-gate-voltage dependence of local tunnel spectra acquired with a scanning tunneling microscope. The conductance spectra show two, or occasionally three, minima that evolve along the bias-voltage axis with the back gate voltage. This evolution is modeled using tip-gating and interface states. The energy dependent interface states' density, Dit(E), required to model the back-gate evolution of the minima, is found to have significant inhomogeneity in its energy-width. A broad Dit(E) leads to an effect similar to a reduction in the Fermi velocity while the narrow Dit(E) leads to the pinning of the Fermi energy close to the Dirac point, as observed in some places, due to enhanced screening of the gate electric field by the narrow Dit(E).