Theoretical investigation of the electronic structures and carrier transport of hybrid graphene and boron nitride nanostructure

Abstract

Recently hybrid graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (C-BN) nanostructures receive much research interest due to the complementary electronic properties. Graphene is a zero-gap semiconductor, while hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is a wide gap semiconductor. Here we studied the electronic structures and carrier transport of hybrid C-BN nanostructures by using first principles calculations and deformation potential theory. We have found that the physical quantities in these systems under study, band gap, effective mass, deformation potential, and carrier mobility, can be categorised into three different families depending on the width of graphene nanoribbon. This family behavior is similar to pristine armchair graphene nanoribbon, but with slight difference from the individual component. New opportunities of designing nanoelectric devices are discussed by utilizing the quantum confinement effect based on such kind of hybrid nanostructures. Copyright 2012 Author(s).