Nonvolatile switching in graphene field-effect devices

The absence of a band gap in graphene restricts its straightforward application as a channel material in field-effect transistors. In this letter, we report on a new approach to engineer a band gap in graphene field-effect devices (FEDs) by controlled structural modification of the graphene channel itself. The conductance in the FEDs is switched between a conductive ON-state and an insulating OFF-state with more than six orders of magnitude difference in conductance. Above a critical value of an electric field applied to the FED gate under certain environmental conditions, a chemical modification takes place to form insulating graphene derivatives. The effect can be reversed by electrical fields of opposite polarity or short current pulses to recover the initial state. These reversible switches could potentially be applied to nonvolatile memories and novel neuromorphic processing concepts.