Performance limits of graphene-ribbon field-effect transistors

The performance of field effect transistors based on an single graphene ribbon with a constriction and a single back gate are studied with the help of atomistic models. It is shown how this scheme, unlike that of traditional carbon-nanotube-based transistors, reduces the importance of the specifics of the chemical bonding to the metallic electrodes in favor of the carbon-based part of device. The ultimate performance limits are here studied for various constriction and metal-ribbon contact models. In particular, we show that, even for poorly contacting metals, properly tailored constrictions can give promising values for both the on conductance and the subthreshold swing.

University of Alicante. This work has been funded by Spanish MEC under Grant Nos. FIS2004-02356, MAT2006-03741, MAT2007-65487, and CONSOLIDER No. CSD2007-00010, by Generalitat Valenciana under Grant No. ACOMP07/054, and by FEDER Funds.