Charge and heat transport in graphene from first-principles

by Francesco Mauri

Tuesday 24 Feb 2015, 16:00 → 18:00 Europe/Rome

Aula Conversi (Dip. di Fisica - edificio G. Marconi)

Building electronic devices based on graphene has been motivating
intense research. Field-effect transistors have been demonstrated, but
graphene also holds promise as interconnect, since it can sustain very
high current density. Such current-carrying capacities are several
orders of magnitude higher than that of present-day interconnects.
Thermal/electrical transport-properties and charge carrier dynamics
after optical excitations are ruled by the electron and phonon
scattering. In order to unravel the capabilities and the limits of
graphene devices to sustain very high current density, I will present  a
detailed analysis of the electron and phonon scattering processes  based
on both first-principles electronic-structure calculations and
experimental phonon measurements. Such detailed knowledge of the
electron-phonon and phonon-phonon interactions has allowed us to study
both the thermal conductivity and the origin of charge-current
saturation in graphene at high field in the framework of Boltzmann
transport theory.