Resonant tunnelling spectroscopy of van der Waals heterosystems

Abstract

The review concerns the most interesting aspects of (mainly experimental) resonance tunnelling spectroscopy studies of a new type of heterosystems called van der Waals heterostructures. The possibility to compose such systems is a result of the recent discovery of two-dimensional crystals, a new class of materials derived from graphene. The role of the angular mismatch of the crystal lattices of conductive graphene electrodes in the tunnelling of charge carriers between them, as well as the closely related issues associated with fulfillment of the conservation laws during tunnelling transitions are considered. The experimental results on inelastic tunnelling in the graphene/h-BN/graphene heterosystems with strong angular mismatch are discussed. The experiments made it possible to determine the phonon density of states spectra of the constituent layers and to detect and describe tunnelling transitions involving localized states of structural defects in the h-BN barrier. We consider new results of studies on tunnelling and magnetotunnelling in van der Waals heterosystems that demonstrate the possibilities of practical application of resonant tunnelling effects in, e.g., microwave engineering, based on realization of electronic devices having I – V curves with negative differential conductance (NDC) regions at tunnelling through defect levels of the barrier layers in such systems. These studies revealed two new types of heterosystems characterized by the formation of NDC regions as a result of resonant tunnelling through the defect levels in the h-BN barrier and by defect-assisted generation of tunnelling current. The bibliography includes 40 references.