2007/12/31 by Seungchul Kim, Jisoon Ihm, Hyoung Joon Choi +1 · 4 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Graphene research and applications #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Topological Materials and Phenomena #cond-mat.mes-hall #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.100.176802
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 176802 (2008) · Additional references added; published version; 4 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2008/04/29 · openalex publication_date 2008/04/29 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
On the basis of first-principles calculations, we report that a novel interfacial atomic structure occurs between graphene and the surface of silicon carbide, destroying the Dirac point of graphene and opening a substantial energy gap there. In the calculated atomic structures, a quasiperiodic 6x6 domain pattern emerges out of a larger commensurate 6 sqrt [3] x 6 sqrt [3]R30 degrees periodic interfacial reconstruction, resolving a long standing experimental controversy on the periodicity of the interfacial superstructures. Our theoretical energy spectrum shows a gap and midgap states at the Dirac point of graphene, which are in excellent agreement with the recently observed anomalous angle-resolved photoemission spectra. Beyond solving unexplained issues in epitaxial graphene, our atomistic study may provide a way to engineer the energy gaps of graphene on substrates.