TY - JOUR

T1 - Proximity screening greatly enhances electronic quality of graphene

AU - Domaretskiy, Daniil

AU - Wu, Zefei

AU - Nguyen, Van Huy

AU - Hayward, Ned

AU - Babich, Ian

AU - Li, Xiao

AU - Nguyen, Ekaterina

AU - Barrier, Julien

AU - Indykiewicz, Kornelia

AU - Wang, Wendong

AU - Gorbachev, Roman V.

AU - Xin, Na

AU - Watanabe, Kenji

AU - Taniguchi, Takashi

AU - Hague, Lee

AU - Fal’ko, Vladimir I.

AU - Grigorieva, Irina V.

AU - Ponomarenko, Leonid A.

AU - Berdyugin, Alexey I.

AU - Geim, Andre K.

PY - 2025/8/21

Y1 - 2025/8/21

N2 - The electronic quality of two-dimensional systems is crucial when exploring quantum transport phenomena. In semiconductor heterostructures, decades of optimization have yielded record-quality two-dimensional gases with transport and quantum mobilities reaching close to 108 and 106 cm2 V−1 s−1, respectively1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9–10. Although the quality of graphene devices has also been improving, it remains comparatively lower11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16–17. Here we report a transformative improvement in the electronic quality of graphene by employing graphite gates placed in its immediate proximity, at 1 nm separation. The resulting screening reduces charge inhomogeneity by two orders of magnitude, bringing it down to a few 107 cm−2 and limiting potential fluctuations to less than 1 meV. Quantum mobilities reach 107 cm2 V−1 s−1, surpassing those in the highest-quality semiconductor heterostructures by an order of magnitude, and the transport mobilities match their record9, 10. This quality enables Shubnikov–de Haas oscillations in fields as low as 1 mT and quantum Hall plateaux below 5 mT. Although proximity screening predictably suppresses electron–electron interactions, fractional quantum Hall states remain observable with their energy gaps reduced only by a factor of 3–5 compared with unscreened devices, demonstrating that many-body phenomena at spatial scales shorter than 10 nm remain robust. Our results offer a reliable route to improving electronic quality in graphene and other two-dimensional systems, which should facilitate the exploration of new physics previously obscured by disorder.

AB - The electronic quality of two-dimensional systems is crucial when exploring quantum transport phenomena. In semiconductor heterostructures, decades of optimization have yielded record-quality two-dimensional gases with transport and quantum mobilities reaching close to 108 and 106 cm2 V−1 s−1, respectively1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9–10. Although the quality of graphene devices has also been improving, it remains comparatively lower11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16–17. Here we report a transformative improvement in the electronic quality of graphene by employing graphite gates placed in its immediate proximity, at 1 nm separation. The resulting screening reduces charge inhomogeneity by two orders of magnitude, bringing it down to a few 107 cm−2 and limiting potential fluctuations to less than 1 meV. Quantum mobilities reach 107 cm2 V−1 s−1, surpassing those in the highest-quality semiconductor heterostructures by an order of magnitude, and the transport mobilities match their record9, 10. This quality enables Shubnikov–de Haas oscillations in fields as low as 1 mT and quantum Hall plateaux below 5 mT. Although proximity screening predictably suppresses electron–electron interactions, fractional quantum Hall states remain observable with their energy gaps reduced only by a factor of 3–5 compared with unscreened devices, demonstrating that many-body phenomena at spatial scales shorter than 10 nm remain robust. Our results offer a reliable route to improving electronic quality in graphene and other two-dimensional systems, which should facilitate the exploration of new physics previously obscured by disorder.

U2 - 10.1038/s41586-025-09386-0

DO - 10.1038/s41586-025-09386-0

M3 - Journal article

VL - 644

SP - 646

EP - 651

JO - Nature

JF - Nature

SN - 0028-0836

IS - 8077

ER -