Bipolar gating of epitaxial graphene by intercalation of Ge

Abstract

In this study, the ambivalent behavior of Ge intercalation is studied by means of scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy as well as local 4-point probe transport measurements. In quantitative agreement with angle-resolved photoemission experiments, both p- and n-type doped graphene areas and their doping level were identified by local spectroscopy. The p-doped areas appear higher by 2 Å with respect to the n-doped areas suggesting incorporation of thicker Ge-layers accompanied by a modified coupling to the initial SiC-surface. Furthermore, the sheet resistance was measured on each of the patches separately. The intrinsic imbalance between the carrier types in the different areas is well reflected by the transport study. The process of intercalation does not affect the transport properties in comparison to pristine graphene pointing to a sufficient homogeneity of the decoupled graphene layer. Transport measurements across chemically gated pn-junctions reveal increased resistances, possibly due to enlarged tunneling barriers.