Large negative differential resistance in graphene nanoribbon superlattices

A graphene nanoribbon superlattice with a large negative differential resistance (NDR) is proposed. Our results show that the peak-to-valley ratio (PVR) of the graphene superlattices can reach 21 at room temperature with bias voltages between 90-220 mV, which is quite large compared with the one of traditional graphene-based devices. It is found that the NDR is strongly influenced by the thicknesses of the potential barrier. Therefore, the NDR effect can be optimized by designing a proper barrier thickness. The large NDR effect can be attributed to the splitting of the gap in transmission spectrum (segment of Wannier-Stark ladder) with larger thicknesses of barrier when the applied voltage increases.