High magnetoresistance in graphene nanoribbon heterojunction

Abstract

We show a large magnetoresistance(MR) effect in a graphene heterostructure consisting of an metallic(M) and semiconductor(SC)-type armchair-graphene-nanoribbon(aGNR). In the heterostructure, the transmission across the first subband of the SC-aGNR and M-aGNR is forbidden under zero magnetic-field, due to the orthogonality of the wavefunctions. A finite magnetic-field introduces the quantum hall-like effect, which distorts the wavefunctions. Thus, a finite transmission occurs across the heterojunction, giving rise to a large MR effect. We study the dependence of this MR on temperature and electron energy. Finally, we design a magnetic-field-effect-transistor which yields a MR of close to 100%(85%) at low(room) temperature.