The influence of the band structure of epitaxial graphene on SiC on the transistor characteristics

We fabricated high-mobility field-effect transistors based on epitaxial graphene synthesized by vacuum graphitization of both the Si- and C-faces of SiC. Room-temperature field-effect mobilities >4000 cm(2)/Vs for both electrons and holes were achieved, although with wide distributions. By using a high-k gate dielectric, we were able to measure the transistor characteristics in a wide carrier density range, where the mobility is seen to decrease as the carrier density increases. We formulate a simple semiclassical model of electrical transport in graphene, and explain the sublinear dependence of conductivity on carrier density from the view point of the few-layer graphene energy band structure. Our analysis reveals important differences between the few-layer graphene energy dispersions on the SiC Si- and C-faces, providing the first evidence based on electrical device characteristics for the theoretically proposed energy dispersion difference between graphene synthesized on these two faces of SiC. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.