Gate tunable graphene-silicon Ohmic/Schottky contacts

We show that the I-V characteristics of graphene-silicon junctions can be actively tuned from rectifying to Ohmic behavior by electrostatically doping the graphene with a polymer electrolyte gate. Under zero applied gate voltage, we observe rectifying I-V characteristics, demonstrating the formation of a Schottky junction at the graphene-silicon interface. Through appropriate gating, the Fermi energy of the graphene can be varied to match the conduction or valence band of silicon, thus forming Ohmic contacts with both n- and p-type silicon. Over the applied gate voltage range, the low bias conductance can be varied by more than three orders of magnitude. By varying the top gate voltage from -4 to +4V, the Fermi energy of the graphene is shifted between -3.78 and -5.47 eV; a shift of +/- 0.85 eV from the charge neutrality point. Since the conduction and valence bands of the underlying silicon substrate lie within this range, at -4.01 and -5.13 eV, the Schottky barrier height and depletion width can be decreased to zero for both n- and p-type silicon under the appropriate top gating conditions. I-V characteristics taken under illumination show that the photoinduced current can be increased or decreased based on the graphene-silicon work function difference. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4768921]