Giant reduction of charge carrier mobility in strained graphene

Impact of induced strain on charge carrier mobility is investigated for a monolayer graphene sheet. The unsymmetrical hopping parameters between nearest neighbor atoms which emanate from induced strain are included in the density of states description. Mobility is then computed within the Born approximation by including three scattering mechanisms; charged impurity, surface roughness and lattice phonons interaction. Unlike its strained silicon counterpart, simulations reveal a significant drop in mobility for graphene with increasing strain. Additionally, mobility anisotropy is observed along the zigzag and armchair orientations. The prime reason for the drop in mobility can be attributed to the change in Fermi velocity due to strain induced distortions in the graphene honeycomb lattice.