Graphene on β-Si3N4: An ideal system for graphene-based electronics

One of the most severe limits in future design of graphene-based electronic devices is that when supported on a substrate, the electron mobility of graphene is often reduced by an order of magnitude or more. In this paper, via theoretical calculations, we show that the non-polar β-Si3N4 (0001) surface may be an excellent support for both single-layer or bi-layer graphene to overcome this limit. Since the high-κ dielectric material is an indispensable component in integrated circuits, the silicon nitride supported graphene as discussed in this paper may provide an ideal platform for future graphene-based electronics.