Electronic Properties of AA- and ABC-Stacked Few-Layer Graphites

Abstract

The low-energy electronic properties of a few graphite layers with AA and ABC stacking under application of the electric field ( F ), perpendicular to the layers, are explored through the tight-binding model. They strongly depend on the interlayer interactions, the stacking sequences, the layer numbers, and the field strength. In the absence or presence of F , the AA-stacked N -layer graphites ( N =3 and 4) exhibit the linear bands near the Fermi energy. The interlayer interactions and electric field chiefly shift the Fermi momenta and the state energies. The ABC-stacked N -layer graphites are characterized by the complicated low-energy bands due to the stacking effect, on which F has a great influence–the change of the state energies and the subband spacing, the opening of a band gap, the production of the oscillating bands, and the increase of the band-edge states. As a result, the two kinds of special structure, whose positions and heights are modulated by F , are found in the density of states (DOS) in contrast to the featureless DOS of the AA systems. The comparison with the AB-stacked few-layer graphites is also made.