Local Electronic Structures of Graphene Probed by Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy

Electrons in graphene make ballistic transport with very high mobility (${\sim}2{\times}105 $cm2V-1s-1), which holds promises for applications in fast electronic devices. However, such expectations have been hampered by the semi-metallicity or zero bandgap of graphene, which makes it impossible to completely turn off graphene transistor devices. Here, we report the observations of local bandgap modulations in Moir$\acute{e}$ patterned graphene on metal substrates using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. The Moir$\acute{e}$ patterned graphene was made by combinations of self-assembly processes, and they showed additional electronic states that could be interpreted as sub-band states. Our experimental observations could be explained with orbital transitions of carbon atoms from sp2 to sp3, as supported by our density functional theory calculation results. Our findings will add new poweful components for device applications.