Electronic structure of graphene/Ge systems with tailored interfaces

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Mikhail Fonin
• Subject Area: Experimental Condensed Matter Physics
• Term: from 2019 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 428756509

The goal of the present project is to study the structure and electronic properties of a graphene layer on Ge substrates. Here the two common surfaces will be used, (110) and (100). Up to now the electronic structure of these new objects was not addressed at all. The next step is the modification of the graphene/Ge interface via placing different interlayers, like oxygen and thin layers of oxide, with the aim to decouple graphene from substrate and to tailor the properties of graphene. The effect of the substrate will be studied via combination of structural methods (LEED, STM/AFM) and photoelectron spectroscopy (NEXAFS, XPS, ARPES). Theoretical calculations of the studied objects will give us a support in the understanding of the observed phenomena as well as will guide us to the new interesting phenomena in these systems. In the end of the project, the fabrication of the prototype elements is planned and the electronic properties of such objects will be studied, by means of XPS and NEXAFS, under conditions which model the ambient environment as well as in operando conditions.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants