Conductance signatures of electron confinement induced by strained nanobubbles in graphene

D. A. Bahamon, Zenan Qi, Harold S. Park, Vitor M. Pereira, David K. Campbell

Published 2015-03-29Version 1

The effect of graphene nanobubbles on the transport properties of graphene nanoribbons is investigated using a combined molecular dynamics-tight-binding simulation scheme. We show that the conductance, density of states, and current density of zigzag or armchair graphene nanoribbons are modified by the presence of a nanobubble. In particular, we establish that low-energy electrons can be confined in the vicinity or within the nanobubbles by the delicate interplay between the pseudomagnetic field pattern created by the shape of the bubble, mode mixing, and substrate interaction. The coupling between the confined evanescent state and the propagating modes can be enhanced under different clamping and substrate conditions, leading to Fano resonances in the conductance traces.