Electric-Field Control in Phosphorene-Based Heterostructures

Phosphorene is a graphene-like material with an intermediate band gap, in contrast to zero-gap graphene and large-gap dichalcogenides or hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), which makes it more suitable for nanoelectronic devices. However, inducing band-gap modulation in freestanding phosphorene nanoribbons (PNRs) is problematic, as high in-plane electric fields are necessary to close the gap. We perform here a detailed investigation concerning the substrate influence on the electric-field control exerted by an external gate, using the density functional theory–non-equilibrium Green’s functions (DFT-NEGF) framework. It is established that the interaction with a hexagonal boron nitride supporting layer significantly enhances the gap modulation. Furthermore, we address the issue of contacting the PNRs, by using conducting graphene nanoribbons embedded in the support hBN layer. Within this setup, a measurable spin polarization is achieved owing to the anti-ferromagnetic coupling between the edges of the graphene nanoribbons.