Electron transport in bilayer graphene is studied by using a first-principles analysis and the Monte Carlo simulation under conditions relevant to potential applications. While the intrinsic properties are found to be much less desirable in bilayer than in monolayer graphene, with significantly reduced mobilities and saturation velocities, the calculation also reveals a dominant influence of extrinsic factors such as the substrate and impurities. Accordingly, the difference between two graphene forms is more muted in realistic settings, although the velocity-field characteristics remain substantially lower in the bilayer. When bilayer graphene is subject to an interlayer bias, the resulting changes in the energy dispersion lead to stronger electron scattering at the bottom of the conduction band. The mobility decreases significantly with the size of the generated band gap, whereas the saturation velocity remains largely unaffected.

• Received 17 September 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.84.195453