Multilayer graphene nanoribbon under vertical electric field

We study the effect of vertical electric-field (E-field) on the electronic properties of the multilayer armchair graphene nanoribbon (aGNR). Under E-field, the band structure of a bilayer aGNR undergoes interesting transformations, such as change in the electron velocity, sign of the electron effective mass, bandgap, and the position of the bandgap in the momentum space. Depending on the width of the aGNR and the applied E-field, the bandgap of the aGNR may either be increased or decreased. When the applied E-field is above a critical value, the bandgap of the bilayer aGNR is identical to that of the bilayer graphene, independent of the width. We also show that, for semiconducting multilayer aGNR with more than two layers, the bandgap decreases with increasing E-field, resulting in a semiconductor-to-metallic transition. This can be utilized to enhance the performance of graphene based transistor devices. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3619853]