Fabrication of large addition energy quantum dots in graphene

We present a simple technique to fabricate graphene quantum dots in a cryostat. It relies upon the controlled rupture of a suspended graphene sheet subjected to the application of a large electron current. This results in the in situ formation of a clean and ultranarrow constriction, which hosts one quantum dot and occasionally a few quantum dots in series. Conductance spectroscopy indicates that individual quantum dots can possess an addition energy as large as 180 meV. Our technique has several assets: (i) the dot is suspended, thus the electrostatic influence of the substrate is reduced, and (ii) contamination is minimized, since the edges of the dot have only been exposed to the vacuum in the cryostat. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3243690]