First principles study of electronic transport through a Cu(111) graphene junction

We report first principles investigations of the nonequilibrium transport properties of a Cu(111)vertical bar graphene interface. The Cu(111) electrode is found to induce a transmission minimum (TM) located -0.68 eV below the Fermi level, a feature originating from the Cu-induced charge transfer resulting in n-type doped graphene with the Dirac point coinciding with the TM. An applied bias voltage shifts the n-graphene TM relative to the pure graphene TM and leads to a distinctive peak in the differential conductance indicating the doping level, a characteristic not observed in pure graphene. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3496490]