Conductance through multilayer graphene films

The ballistic conductance through junctions between multilayer graphene films and several different metals is studied using ab initio calculations within the local density approximation. The system consists of films of up to four graphene layers (Bernal stacking) between metallic electrodes, assuming reasonable metal-graphene epitaxial relationships. For some metals, the conductance decays exponentially with increasing number of layers, while for others the conductance saturates with film thickness. This difference in asymptotic behavior stems from the crystal momentum (mis)match between the bulk Fermi-level states in the electrode and those in the film. In contrast, for sufficiently thin films the bonding between the metal and the adjacent graphene layer dominates, giving a metal dependence for graphene similar to that seen experimentally for single-wall carbon nanotubes. Among the metals considered here, we find Pd to be the best for electrodes to films with up to 4 graphene layers. © 2011 American Chemical Society.