STM/S study of electronic inhomogeneity evolution with gate voltage in graphene: role of screening and charge-state of interface defects

Evolution of electronic inhomogeneities with back-gate voltage in graphene on SiO$_2$ was studied using room temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. The reversal of local contrast in some places in the STS maps and sharp changes in cross-correlations between topographic and conductance maps, when graphene Fermi energy approaches its Dirac point, are attributed to change in charge-state of interface defects. The spatial correlations in the conductance maps, described by two different length scales and their growth during approach to Dirac point, show a qualitative agreement with the predictions of the screening theory of graphene. Thus a sharp change in the two length-scales close to the Dirac point, seen in our experiments, is interpreted in terms of the change in charge state of some of the interface defects. A systematic understanding and control of the charge state of defects will help in memory applications of graphene.