Vertical graphene heterostructures have been introduced as an alternative architecture for electronic devices by using quantum tunneling. Here, we present that the current on/off ratio of vertical graphene field-effect transistors is enhanced by using an armchair graphene nanoribbon as an electrode. Moreover, we report spin-dependent tunneling current of the graphene/MoS2 heterostructures. When an atomically thin MoS2 layer sandwiched between graphene electrodes becomes magnetic, Dirac fermions with different spins feel different height of the tunnel barrier, leading to spin-dependent tunneling. Our finding will develop the present graphene heterostructures for electronic devices by improving the device performance and by adding the possibility of spintronics based on graphene.
@article{arxiv.1302.0945,
title = {Large Current Modulation and Spin-Dependent Tunneling of Vertical Graphene/MoS$_{2}$ Heterostructures},
author = {Nojoon Myoung and Kyungchul Seo and Seung Joo Lee and Gukhyung Ihm},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1302.0945},
year = {2013}
}