Electronic Transport Properties of 1D-Defects in Graphene and Other 2D-Systems

The continuous progress in device miniaturization demands a thorough understanding of the electron transport processes involved. The influence of defects - discontinuities in the perfect and translational invariant crystal lattice - plays a crucial role here. For graphene in particular, they limit the carrier mobility often demanded for applications by contributing additional sources of scattering to the sample. Due to its two-dimensional nature graphene serves as an ideal system to study electron transport in the presence of defects, because one-dimensional defects like steps, grain boundaries and interfaces are easy to characterize and have profound effects on the transport properties. While their contribution to the resistance of a sample can be extracted by carefully conducted transport experiments, scanning probe methods are excellent tools to study the influence of defects locally. In this letter, the authors review the results of scattering at local defects in graphene and other 2D systems by scanning tunneling potentiometry, 4-point-probe microscopy, Kelvin probe force microscopy and conventional transport measurements. Besides the comparison of the different defect resistances important for device fabrication, the underlying scattering mechanisms are discussed giving insight into the general physics of electron scattering at defects.