The fundamental 1∕f noise in monolayer graphene

Abstract

A lower bound on the voltage noise power spectrum set by quantum indeterminacy exists in any conducting material. This bound is calculated explicitly for monolayer graphene taking into account graphene pseudospin/valley band structure. It is found to be of the form characteristic of the observed [Formula: see text] noise. It is shown that the deviation of [Formula: see text] from unity is a result of the piezoelectric interaction of charge carriers with acoustic phonons. A comparison with the measured [Formula: see text] noise in graphene and graphene-based heterostructures shows that the observed noise intensity is near the quantum bound. It is demonstrated that the recently observed sharp peak in [Formula: see text] at small gate voltages in the field-effect transistors based on graphene/boron nitride heterostructure is well reproduced by the theory, and is to be attributed to the out-of-plane piezoelectric activity in this heterostructure. A simple kinetic model is proposed to describe the effect of the charge carrier trapping on [Formula: see text].