Electronic and transport properties of armchair and zigzag sp3-hybridized silicane nanoribbons

The electronic and transport properties of sp³-hybridized armchair and zigzag edge silicane nanoribbons have been investigated using nonlocal empirical pseudopotentials and ab-initio calculations. Compared to the armchair graphene nanoribbons, silicane ribbons do no suffer from the chirality dependence of the band gap. Calculated low-field electron mobility and ballistic conductance show a strong edge dependence due to a difference in the effective masses and momentum relaxation rates along the transport direction. Smaller effective masses and momentum relaxation rates in the zigzag edge ribbons results in the electron mobility as much as an order of magnitude larger than the armchair edge ribbons.