Fano effects in electron transport through an armchair graphene nanoribbon with one line defect

Electron transport in an armchair graphene nanoribbon is theoretically investigated by considering the presence of one line defect. It is found that different-property Fano effects occur in electron transport through such a structure, which are determined by the nanoribbon width and the coupling manner between the line defect and the nanoribbon. The spectra of the density of electron states show that the line defect induces some localized quantum states around the Dirac point, and that the different localizations of these states lead to the abundant transport results. By analyzing the influence of the structure parameters, the Fano effects are described in detail. With the obtained results, we consider such a structure to be a promising candidate for nanoswitch. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.