The ability to isolate single atomic layers of van der Waals materials has led to renewed interest in the electronic and optical properties of these materials as they can be fundamentally different at the monolayer limit. Moreover, these 2D crystals can be assembled together layer by layer, with controllable sequence and orientation, to form artificial materials that exhibit new features that are not found in monolayers nor bulk. Twisted bilayer graphene is one such prototype system formed by two monolayer graphene layers placed on top of each other with a twist angle between their lattices, whose electronic band structure depends on the twist angle. This thesis presents the efforts to explore the electronic and optical properties of twisted bilayer graphene by Raman spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy measurements. We first synthesize twisted bilayer graphene with various twist angles via chemical vapor deposition. Using a combination of scanning tunneling microscopy and Raman spectroscopy, the twist angles are determined. The strength of the Raman G peak is sensitive to the electronic band structure of twisted bilayer graphene and therefore we use this peak to monitor changes upon doping. Our results demonstrate the ability to modify the electronic and optical properties of twisted bilayer graphene with doping. We also fabricate twisted bilayer graphene by controllable stacking of two graphene monolayers with a dry transfer technique. For twist angles smaller than one degree, many body interactions play an important role. It requires eight electrons per moire unit cell to fill up each band instead of four electrons in the case of a larger twist angle. For twist angles smaller than 0.4 degree, a network of domain walls separating AB and BA stacking regions forms, which are predicted to host topologically protected helical states. Using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy, these states are confirmed to appear on the domain walls when inversion symmetry is broken with an external electric field. We observe a double-line profile of these states on the domain walls, only occurring when the AB and BA regions are gaped. These states give rise to channels that could transport charge in a dissipationless manner making twisted bilayer graphene a promising platform to realize controllable topological networks for future applications.

Les recherches présentées dans ce mémoire ont été rendues possible grâce à la contribution financière du CRSNG, par à leur Programme de subventions à la découverte (SD) et leur Programme de bourses d’études supérieures du Canada au niveau de la maîtrise (BESC M); du FRQNT, par leur Programme de bourse de maîtrise (B1); et du CLS, par leur Graduate and Post-Doctoral Student Travel Support Program. / Le graphène est un nano-matériau très prometteur grâce à ses excellentes propriétés mécaniques, optiques et électriques. Toutefois, la plupart de ses applications les plus novatrices requièrent de l'altérer, mais la compréhension du graphène altéré est encore limitée. Certaines applications envisagées sont en optique infrarouge. Or, notre compréhension actuelle du graphène ne permet pas d’expliquer l’apparition des pics infrarouges qui sont observés dans les bicouches et dans les monocouches fonctionnalisées. Le comportement du graphène fonctionnalisé est particulièrement contre-intuitif, puisque l’ajout de greffons le rend plus transparent, et non pas plus opaque! Un modèle proposé par Bruno Rousseau, un étudiant post-doctorant du professeur Michel Côté à l'Université de Montréal, suggère une explication à ce phénomène: bien que les phonons du graphène ne puissent pas coupler directement avec la lumière, ils coupleraient indirectement avec celle-ci grâce à des collisions sur les électrons, qui eux, peuvent coupler avec les photons. Ce couplage indirect peut produire des interférences parfois constructives, parfois destructives, de telle sorte que ce mécanisme peut autant produire des pics d’absorbance que de transparence. Dans le cadre de ce mémoire, nous avons entrepris de vérifier expérimentalement la validité de ce modèle, et nous concluons qu’il semble prédire adéquatement le comportement de l’activité infrarouge des bicouches de graphène et des monocouches fonctionnalisées. Nous avons aussi étudié les méthodes par lesquelles nous synthétisions ces différents types de graphène afin de les optimiser. Enfin, nous avons déterminé des techniques, basées sur la spectroscopie Raman, permettant de bien caractériser l’intensité de l’altération causée par ces méthodes. / Graphene is a promising nanomaterials thanks to its excellent mechanical, optical and electrical properties. However, its most innovative applications require that it be altered, but the understanding altered graphene is still limited. Some applications are considered in infrared optics. However, our current understanding of graphene does not explain the appearance of the infrared peaks that are observed in bilayers and grafted monolayers. The behaviour of grafted graphene is especially baffling, since the addition of grafts makes it more transparent, not less! A model proposed by Bruno Rousseau, a postdoctoral student of Professor Michel Côté at Université de Montréal, suggests an explanation for this phenomenon: although the phonons of graphene cannot couple directly with light, they could couple indirectly through collisions with the electrons, which can couple with photons. This indirect coupling may produce constructive and destructive interference, depending on the conditions, so this mechanism can produce absorbance peaks as much as transparency peaks. In this master’s thesis, we have undertaken to experimentally verify the validity of this model, and we conclude that it seems to adequately predict the behaviour of the infrared activity of graphene bilayers and grafted monolayers. We also studied the methods by which we synthesized these different types of graphene to optimize them. Finally, we determined techniques based on Raman spectroscopy to characterize the intensity of the alteration induced by these methods.

Submitted by Geandra Rodrigues (geandrar@gmail.com) on 2018-01-11T18:27:28Z No. of bitstreams: 1 manoelcarlosdossantosjunior.pdf: 4607995 bytes, checksum: 47fe628f81ff50e0935ea700b075a416 (MD5) / Rejected by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br), reason: Favor corrigir: Título: Síntese e estudo raman de grafeno bicamada rodado sob influência e campo eléctrico Título: Síntese e estudo raman de grafeno bi-camada rodado sob influencia e campo eléctrico Verificar o acento em Júnior e corrigir "dos" Autor(es): Santos Junior, Manoel Carlos Dos on 2018-01-23T13:56:04Z (GMT) / Submitted by Geandra Rodrigues (geandrar@gmail.com) on 2018-01-23T14:05:52Z No. of bitstreams: 1 manoelcarlosdossantosjunior.pdf: 4607995 bytes, checksum: 47fe628f81ff50e0935ea700b075a416 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2018-01-23T14:22:48Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 manoelcarlosdossantosjunior.pdf: 4607995 bytes, checksum: 47fe628f81ff50e0935ea700b075a416 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-01-23T14:22:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 manoelcarlosdossantosjunior.pdf: 4607995 bytes, checksum: 47fe628f81ff50e0935ea700b075a416 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-26 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / No presente trabalho, usamos os dois principais modos de operação CVD, LPCVD (low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition – Deposição Química na Vapor em Baixa Pressão) e APCVD (Ambient Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition – Deposição Química na Vapor em Pressão Ambiente), para a produção de filmes de grafeno bicamada rodado (GBR). O modo LPCVD se mostrou mais eficaz para produção de grafeno monocada de alta qualidade e cobrindo grandes áreas. Pelo modo APCVD foi possível otimizar uma rota reprodutível para sintetizar filmes de GBR com todos os ângulos possíveis e com dimensões suficientes para realização de medidas Raman com precisão espacial (≈100 ). Usamos, microscopia óptica e espectroscopia Raman para caracterizar os filmes de GBR. Posteriormente, os filmes sintetizados foram transferidos para um substrato litografado para confecção de um dispositivo de efeito de campo (FET). Fizemos um estudo sistemático das características Raman do GBR (frequência, largura máxima a meia altura e intensidades relativas das bandas G e 2D) como função da altura do nível de Fermi. Observamos uma diminuição das Anomalias de Kohn e um aumento do tempo de vida dos fônons responsáveis pela banda G tanto do grafeno quanto do GBR quando a tensão de porta é sintonizada. Observamos também que, para ângulos grandes, 20°≤≤30°, as principais características Raman do GBR se mantém constantes quando sintonizamos uma tensão de porta, em outras palavras, as curvas da frequência e da largura máxima a meia altura das bandas G e 2D assumem o mesmo comportamento. Contudo, para ângulos pequenos, menores que <7,5°, observamos alterações nas características Raman do grafeno quando uma tensão de porta é aplicada, principalmente na banda 2D. Ainda são necessários mais estudos para a compreensão correta desses fenômenos. Porém, atribuímos essas diferenças de comportamento das características Raman do GBR a uma diminuição da velocidade de Fermi dos elétrons nesse material para ângulos pequenos. Para ângulos grandes, não observamos nenhuma diferença nas características Raman do GBR. Isso pode ser explicado pelo fato de que, para ângulos grandes, as camadas do GBR estão praticamente desacopladas, fazendo com que as propriedades do GBR sejam semelhantes às de uma monocamada de grafeno. / In this work, we have employed, both, Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition, (LPCVD) as well as Ambient Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (APCVD) to produce large areas of twisted bi-layer graphene. LPCVD allowed us to produce highly crystalline monolayer graphene. However, by using APCVD we were able to obtain twisted bi-layer graphene as large as ≈100 . All the materials synthesized were carefully analyzed by optical microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Once we were able to produce ideals bi-layer twisted graphene films; we transferred these materials to a field effect transistor (FET) device. Then we studied the graphene Raman features as a function of the gate voltage. As expected, we observed that the Kohn anomaly was removed by doping graphene by either holes or electrons. Also, the G band phonon lifetime tends to increase as a function of the gate voltage for both monolayer and twisted bi-layer graphene. It seems that large angle twisted bi-layer graphene 20°≤≤30° has a Raman behavior, when back-gated, very similar to monolayer graphene. Which seems to be consistent with the fact that those sample behave as two uncoupled monolayer graphene. Even though, we could prove that our FET device was working properly, we could not obtain significant modification of the Raman band features for twisted bi-layer with small angles (<7,5°).