Synthesis of Metal-Semiconductor Heterojunctions in Single Graphene Nanoribbons

Abstract

Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) are a highly tunable class of one-dimensional (1D) quantum materials that can be fabricated through bottom-up synthesis. Precise control over GNR band gaps and band-edge alignments has established them as a promising nanoelectronics platform, but forming high-quality electronic interfaces remains challenging. Here we combine sequential on-surface synthesis and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM)-induced dehydrogenation to directly write metallic 7-iGNR segments into otherwise semiconducting H$_2$-7-iGNRs without changing the GNR width or carbon backbone connectivity. The resulting metallic segments exhibit nonzero spectral weight at the Fermi level ($E_\mathrm{F}$) and spatially extended electronic states, consistent with two dispersive bands crossing $E_\mathrm{F}$. The new metallic states are well described by an extended Su--Schrieffer--Heeger zigzag-ladder Hamiltonian. Scanning tunnelling spectroscopy (STS) and first-principles calculations show that the valence band edge of adjacent, connected semiconducting GNR segments lies close to $E_\mathrm{F}$ for the metallic segments. STS spectra recover bulk GNR properties within $\sim$1 nm on either side of the metal-semiconductor GNR interface, with no discernible depletion region. The observed GNR band edge alignment is consistent with a small energy barrier for hole injection, thus suggesting a possible route towards atomically precise, low-barrier p-type contacts for future GNR-based electronic devices.