Abstract: Various aspects of tunable barrier transistors that can be used in high power electronics are provided. In one example, among others, a tunable barrier transistor includes an inorganic semiconducting layer; a source electrode including a nano-carbon film disposed on the inorganic semiconducting layer; a gate dielectric layer disposed on the nano-carbon film; and a gate electrode disposed on the gate dielectric layer over at least a portion of the nano-carbon film. The nano-carbon film can form a source-channel interface with the inorganic semiconducting layer. A gate field produced by the gate electrode can modulate a barrier height at the source-channel interface. The gate field may also modulate a barrier width at the source-channel interface.

Abstract: A method of preparing graphene on a SiC substrate includes bombarding a surface of the SiC substrate with ions and annealing a volume of the SiC substrate at the bombarded surface to promote agglomeration of carbon at the bombarded surface to form one or more layers of graphene at that surface. The ions can be Si, C, or other ions such as Au. The annealing can be carried out using a thermal source of heating or by irradiation with at least one laser beam or other high energy beam.