Conductance of a single-atom carbon chain with graphene leads

Abstract

We study the conductance of an interconnect between two graphene leads formed by a single-atom carbon chain. Its dependence on the chemical potential and the number of atoms in the chain is qualitatively different from that in the case of normal metal leads. Electron transport proceeds via narrow resonant states in the wire. The latter arise due to strong reflection at the junctions between the chain and the leads, which is caused by the small density of states in the leads at low energy. The energy dependence of the transmission coefficient near resonance is asymmetric and acquires a universal form at small energies. We find that in the case of leads with the zigzag edges the dispersion of the edge states has a significant effect on the device conductance.