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Amplification of hippersound in graphene under external direct current electric

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DOI: 10.1063/1.4748174

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Amplification of hippersound in graphene under external direct current
electric field
O. A. C. Nunes and A. L. A. Fonseca

Citation: J. Appl. Phys. 112, 043707 (2012); doi: 10.1063/1.4748174

View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4748174
View Table of Contents: http://jap.aip.org/resource/1/JAPIAU/v112/i4
Published by the American Institute of Physics.

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 JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS 112, 043707 (2012)

Amplification of hippersound in graphene under external direct current

electric field
O. A. C. Nunes and A. L. A. Fonseca
Institute of Physics, University of Brasilia, 70910 Brasilia, DF, Brazil

(Received 26 May 2012; accepted 20 July 2012; published online 30 August 2012)
We present a theoretical investigation on the hippersound generation and amplification in n-type
graphene in the presence of a dc driving electric field. By investigating the consequences of
electron-acoustic phonon interaction in a gated graphene, we have found the conditions for phonon
amplification to be obtained, namely vD > v~s ; vD being the drift velocity of electrons in the dc field
and and v~s being the effective sound velocity in the graphene sheet and R~q > C~q , where R~q is the
phonon generation rate and C~q is the phonon linear losses. By considering two extreme values of
the electron mobility in graphene, namely l ¼ 20 000 cm2/Vs and 1.2 V/cm for l ¼ 190 000 cm2/Vs,
the critical external electric fields for hippersound amplification were obtained as much as 10 V/cm
1.2 V/cm, respectively. These threshold dc fields are smaller when compared with the
corresponding applied fields for phonon amplification in semiconducting bulk and nanostructures.
The study is relevant to the application of graphene as acoustoelectric devices as well as in the
construction of a high-frequency phonon spectrometer. V C 2012 American Institute of Physics.

[http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4748174]

I. INTRODUCTION to its unique electron physics, as well as possible applica-

tions to electronic devices.
When electrons are accelerated by an electric field such
Graphene’s high intrinsic carrier mobility over 200 000
that their drift velocity exceeds the sound velocity of the
cm2/Vs at low temperature for suspended samples12
semiconductor, a large number of acoustic phonons are
(although mobilities any higher than around 20 000 cm2/Vs
emitted coherently. This acoustoelectric (AE) effect was pre-
are not really needed for applications) with its mechanical
dicted1,2 and demonstrated3–6 in the 1960 s in semiconduc-
and thermodynamic stability,13 makes it a promising mate-
tors with large piezoelectricity3 such as CdS and multivalley
rial for AE effect studies.
crystals with electron-phonon interaction via the deformation
In the current paper, we investigate phonon instability in
potential.5 The AE in bulk semiconductors as well as in low
graphene monolayer by means of an electric field applied
dimensional structures has been investigated on several
externally to the structure using the same approach as that of
occasions.7–9 When an acoustic wave passes through a semi-
Ref. 8.The motivation for such a study lies on the possibility
conducting sample, it may interact with various elementary
of using the unique electronic proprieties of graphene as suit-
excitations. In such an interaction, the acoustic wave may
able devices for generation and amplification of high-
lose or gain energy under certain circumstances. The latter is
frequency acoustic phonon signals as well as the possibility
known as amplification and the former as attenuation (damp-
of taking advantage of graphene in building a high-
ing) of the acoustic wave. Electron drift velocities in bulk
frequency phonon spectrometer. Since the development of
materials necessary to achieve the AE effect were obtained
electrical methods of coherent phonon generation is a long-
at relatively high applied electric field intensity in account of
standing and important problem that has presented many
the low mobility values (200 cm2/Vs for CdS and 8500 cm2/
technical challenges we believe that the present work is of
Vs for GaAs). With the advent of nanostructures such as
sufficient interest to warrant an investigation.
InAs/InP nanowires mobility values were increased as much
as10 11 500 cm2/Vs so that drift velocities can be obtained at
lower applied electric field intensities. The AE effect for II. THEORETICAL APPROACH
obtaining high-frequency acoustic-phonon generation and
A. Electron-phonon transition rate
amplification in a semiconductor nanowire subjected to a dc
electric field was considered elsewhere.8 In this study, criti- We shall consider a gate-controlled graphene device on
cal drift electric fields were found as much as 103 V/m. In a dielectric wafer such as SiO2/Si, which is similar to the
order to explore fundamental materials electronic and AE sample device used experimentally.14–16 In such system, the
devices at modest applied electric field strengths, we go fur- carrier density can be effectively tuned by the applied gated
ther in the search of new high mobility values materials. One voltages, Vg, and the in-plane current I, can be induced by
such a material which has high mobility values is graphene. the presence of the source to drain voltages, Vsd, applied
Graphene, a mono- to few-layers of sp2 bonded carbon in a along the x-direction of the graphene sheet.16,17 A carrier in
honeycomb lattice (a 2D sheet of carbon just one atom a monolayer can be described by Weil’s equation and the
~
thick), has been studied intensively since its discovery11 due wavefunction,18 wkk~ð~r Þ ¼ 21=2 ½1; kei/ eik:~r , and the energy

0021-8979/2012/112(4)/043707/4/$30.00 112, 043707-1 C 2012 American Institute of Physics

V

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043707-2 O. A. C. Nunes and A. L. A. Fonseca J. Appl. Phys. 112, 043707 (2012)

~ ¼ kcjkj,
spectrum, ek ðkÞ ~ can be obtained analytically.19 In Eq. (4), the factor f~k~ð1  f~k~0 Þ represents the probability
Here, ~ ~
r ¼ ðx; yÞ; k ¼ ðkx ; ky Þ is the wavevector for a carrier that the initial electron k~ state is occupied and the final elec-
along the graphene sheet, c ¼ hvF with vF ¼ 108 cm/s being tron k~0 state is empty.
the Fermi-velocity, / is the angle between k~ and the x-
direction, and k ¼ þ1 for an electron and k ¼ 1 for a hole.
By considering an n-type graphene, the valence band is fully C. Phonon growth rate
occupied and the conduction band is partially filled up to the
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi By transforming the summations over ~ k and k~0 into inte-
Fermi level energy, eF ¼ hvF pjnj, n being the electron P A2
Ð 2 2 0
grals by the prescription ~ ~
~ k~0 ! ð2pÞ4 d kd k , A being
k;
density in the graphene sheet. The electronic transition rate
induced by electron interaction with acoustic phonons in the area of the sample, and assuming that N~q ðtÞ  1, one
such a system can be obtained from Fermi’s golden rule, gets
which reads,
@N~q =@t ¼ R~q N~q ; (5)
 
2p N~q
6 ~ ~0
W ðk; k Þ ¼ q ; hÞj2 dk~0 ;k~
Vð~ ~
~ q d½eðkÞ where
h N~q þ 1
 eðk~0 Þ6hx~q ; (1) ð1 ð 2p ð1
AK2 q
kdk d/ k 0 dk 0
*
Rq ¼
ð2pÞ3 vF qvs 0 0 0
where N~q ¼ ðehx~q =kB T  1Þ1 is the phonon occupation num- ð 2p
dhð1 þ coshf½f ðKÞ  f ðK 0 Þdðk  k 0  x~q =vF ÞgÞ:
2 2
q ; hÞj2 ¼ h4Aqv
ber, Vð~ K q
s
ð1 þ coshÞ is the square of electron- 
0
phonon interaction,8,18 x~q is the frequency of acoustic (6)
phonon and h is the angle between k~ and k~0 , K is the defor-
mation potential constant,20 and p is the areal density of the pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Here, k 0 ¼ k þ x~q =vF ; K ¼ k2  2kkD cos/ þ kD2 with
graphene sheet. The terms N~q and N~q þ 1 correspond to the pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
absorption (þ) and emission () of a phonon with wavevec- kD ¼ kF vD =vv and k ¼ k 02  2k 0 kD cosð/ þ hÞ þ kD2 , vD
q ¼ ðqx ; qy Þ.
tor ~ being the drift velocity of electrons in the x-direction along
which the driving electric field is applied. In arriving at Eq.
B. Phonon kinetic equation (6), we have neglected the bi-linear terms f~~k f~~k 0 , since they
are smaller than unity.
The kinetic equation for the acoustic-phonon population
We now assume the low temperature regime in which b
N~q ðtÞ in the graphene sheet is given by8
is large. In this case, we shall make the approximation
X 0 0 f ðKÞ  ebhvF ðKkF Þ so that Eq. (6) can be written in the fol-
@N~q ðtÞ=@t ¼ gs gv fW  ð~
k; k~ Þf~ðkÞ½1
~  f~ð~
k Þ lowing form:
~ k~0
k;
0 0 ð1 ð 2p ð1
 W þ ð~ ~ f~ðkÞ½1
k ; kÞ ~  f~ð~
k Þg; (2) AK2 q
R~q ¼ kdk d/ k0 dk0
ð2pÞ3 vF qvs 0 0 0
where gs ¼ 2 and gv ¼ 2 account, respectively, for spin and ð 2p
0
valley degeneracies. The unperturbed electron distribution  dhð1 þ coshÞebhvF ðKkF Þ ð1  ebðKK Þ Þ
0
function is given by the shifted Fermi-Dirac function,
 dðk  k 0  x~q =vF Þ: (7)
1
f~ðkÞ
~ ¼ fexp½beð~
k  k~D Þ  beF  þ 1g ; (3)
The above integrals are non trivial as far as the angles h and
/ are concerned. However, in order to have a simple and
where b  1=kB T; ~ k D ¼ kF~v D =vF being the shift of the elec-
qualitative view of the problem, we consider the simple case
tron momentum due to the presence of the drift velocity,
in which electrons and phonons are propagating in the same
v D ¼ ðvD ; 0Þ; imposed by the applied dc driving electric field
~
direction as that of the drifting field. In this case, we set
ED ¼ Vsd/L, with Vsd being the voltage applied along the
h ¼ / ¼ 0 and Eq. (7) becomes
conducting channel, L is the length from source to drain
electrodes for such a graphene device, and k~F is the Fermi ð1 ð1
wavevector for an electron in graphene. AK2 q
By making use of Eq. (1), the kinetic equation for the R~q ¼ kdk k 0 dk 0 ebhvF ðkkD kF Þ
pvF qvs
phonon distribution function, Eq. (2), can be written as 0 0
hvF ðkk 0 Þ
b
X n  ð1  e Þdðk  k 0  x~q =vF Þ: (8)
2p
@N~q =@t ¼ gs gv jV~q j2 ½N~q ðtÞ þ 1f~~k ð1  f~k~0 Þ

h ~ ~0 Performing first the integration over k’ with help of the
k;k

 dðe~k  ek~0  hx~q Þ  N~q ðtÞf~k~ð1  f~~k Þ energy d-function and second the integration over k. After
some algebric manipulations, we finally obtain for the acous-
 dk;
~~ q dðek~  ek~0  
k 0 ~ hx~q Þg: (4) tic phonon generation rate:

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043707-3 O. A. C. Nunes and A. L. A. Fonseca
AK2 kB TqkF2
R~q ¼ vD ðvD  v~s ÞebhkF vD Þ½1  ebhx~q :
h2 qvs v4F
p
Here v~s ¼ ðq=kF Þvs is an “effective” sound velocity in the
graphene layer. It is convenient to notice that the presence of
this “effective velocity,” v~s ¼ ðq=kF Þvs , in the graphene
sheet is a consequence of energy conservation in the
0
electron-phonon scattering process in which k ¼ k
þðx~q =vF Þ. As we shall see below, for n-type graphene with
electron sheet as much as n  1012 cm2 , kF ¼
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi density in the
pjnj ¼ 1:77  10 cm1 and q/kF  0.1 for phonon fre-
6
quency of 200 GHz. For a hipper sound of wave length of
the order of 1 nm which has frequencies in the range of a few
THz21 in which the condition x~q s 1 1 is satisfied, s being
the transit time of electrons inside the graphene sheet, i.e.,
1012 sec, q/kF ¼ 1, so that v~s ¼ vs and the condition for pho-
non amplification is  D > vs as found in bulk and nano
semiconductors.
In our discussion so far, we have completely neglected
other mechanism such as three-phonon scattering processes,
graphene sheet imperfections, etc., which may interact with
phonons and lead to a finite phonon lifetime C~q . It will be
seen that the threshold external applied electric field for the
onset of the phonon instability becomes finite for a finite C~q .
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
It follows from Eq. (9) that, if we set C~q ¼ 0, for a par-
ticular phonon wavevector ~ q , the criterion for the onset of
the phonon amplification, R~q > 0, is just the condition
vD > v~s . For vD > v~s ; R~q < 0 and we have damping of
acoustic waves. For finite C~q > 0, the instability criterion
becomes R~q > C~q . By solving Eq. (5), we obtain
N~q ðtÞ ¼ N~q ð0ÞeR~q t ;
which shows an exponential behavior for the acoustic-
phonon population which is valid only at the initial stage
after the onset of the instability. Thereafter, non-linear
terms such as 4-phonon scattering processes will limit the
phonon growth (saturation). Note that the factor in the
bracket in Eq. (9) is always a positive quantity at low
temperatures.
To get an order of magnitude estimate of the effect
proposed in this paper, we assume the following parameters
for n-type graphene: K ¼ 9 eV, q ¼ 6:5  108 g=cm2 , A
¼ 200 lm  100 lm, x~q ¼ 200 GHz ðhippersoundÞ, T ¼10 K,
vs ¼ 2:1  106 cm=s, q ¼ 105 cm  1, and n ¼ 1012 cm2 for
which kF 106 cm1. To fulfill the condition vD > v~s , we
assume vD ¼ 1:1~ v s ¼ 1:1  2:1  105 cm=s ¼ 2:3  105 cm=s.
Since vD ¼lED, where l is the electron mobility in the gra-
phene sheet which we assume to be 20 000 cm2/Vs, we get
Ed ¼ 10V/cm. On the other hand, for l ¼ 190 000 cm2/Vs,17
for carrier density of 1012 cm2, this critical electric field
drops as low as ED ¼ 1.2V/cm. By inserting the value vD ¼
v s ¼ 2:31  105 cm=s the above parameters into Eq. (9) we
1:1~
obtain R~q  109 s1 . This value has in turn to be compared
with the linear losses C~q .
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J. Appl. Phys. 112, 043707 (2012)
This phonon decay rate C~q due to other processes than
(9) phonon emission or absorption by electrons can be calculated
0 0
from three-phonon scattering process ðx;~ q Þ!
q Þþ ðx ;~
0 0
ðx00 ;~
q Þ with xþ x ¼ x00 and x ¼ x00  x ffi 0:1xLA;max ;where
xLA;max can be obtained from the inelastic x-ray scattering in
graphene experiment.22 A calculation23 based on the Fermi
golden rule yields:
1 kB T x2
C¼ 2 2
; (11)
ðcLA Þ Mvs xLA;max
where cLA ¼ 1:5 is the Gr€uneisen parameter, M ¼ qAuc , is
2
the carbon mass, Auc ¼ 1:960A0 is the area of the graphene
unit cell. The other parameters have their usual meaning.
From Ref. 22, we extract xLA;max  1300 cm1 so that
x ¼ 0:1xLA;max ¼ 130 cm1 . By using Eq. (11) and assum-
ing further that T ¼ 10 K, one gets C ffi 3  107 sec1 . There-
fore, hipper sound amplification can be obtained provided
R~q > C~q .
IV. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, we have theoretically studied hippersound
generation and amplification in n-type graphene in the pres-
ence of an external dc electric field. By investigating the con-
sequences of electron-acoustic phonon interaction in a gated
graphene, we have found that the conditions for phonon
amplification were attained provided vD > v~s and R~q > C~q
were attained. By considering two extreme values of the
electron mobility in graphene, the critical external electric
fields for hippersound amplification were obtained as much
as 10 V/cm for l ¼ 20 000 cm2/Vs and 1.2 V/cm for l ¼ 190
000 cm2/Vs, which showed modest values when compared
with the corresponding applied fields for phonon amplifica-
tion in semiconducting bulk and nanostructures, respectively.
(10)
Furthermore, the source-to-drain voltage, Vsd ¼ EDL, is
0.12 mV for ED ¼ 12 mV/cm and 0.1 V for ED ¼ 10 V/cm.
Under the action of the weak electric fields (Vsd < 0.1 V), the
electron temperature is the same as the lattice temperature
considered here. Namely, when Vsd < 0.1 V, the electrons are
in the linear response regime where the heating of electrons
does not occur in graphene. This implies that in graphene the
Ohm’s law holds when Vsd < 0.1 V. When Vsd > 0.1 V, the
heating of electrons in graphene takes place so that the elec-
tron temperature is no longer the lattice temperature. In con-
junction with the experimental work,16 the in-plane current,
I ¼ envDL (L being the length from source to drain electrodes
in graphene) for a given source-to-drain voltage, Vsd, in a
graphene sample can be calculated. For n ¼ 1012 cm2, vD ¼
1:1~v s ¼ 2:3105 cm=s and L¼100lm, the in-plane current is
I¼0.36 mA which is in accordance with the value found
elsewhere.16 Our calculations could be also employed for
investigating optical-phonon amplification. However, in gra-
phene, the optical-phonon energy is about 196meV. An elec-
tron in graphene needs to gain a very large amount of energy
from the driving electric field in order to emit an optical pho-
non. Thus, the strong interaction between electrons and opti-
cal phonons can only occur mainly in relatively high-field
regime. As a result, the electron-acoustic -phonon scattering
043707-4 O. A. C. Nunes and A. L. A. Fonseca J. Appl. Phys. 112, 043707 (2012)

7
is relatively strong in graphene when Vsd is not extremely J. P. Palmier and A. Chomette, J. Phys. (France) 43, 381 (1982).
8
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struct. 32, 49 (2002).
In closing, we point out that in conjunction with recent 9
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10
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ACKNOWLEGMENTS 17
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O.A.N. and A.L.A.F. want to thank the Brazilian 18
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