This invention relates generally to elemental carbon compositions and, more particularly, to products having graphene and methods of producing graphene.
Graphene is a crystal of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice. Single and few-layer graphene has emerged as a promising material for novel applications in electronics because the high carrier mobility and perfect charge carrier confinement of graphene result in outstanding electronic transport properties. Graphene thus holds promises for widespread applications including field-effect transistors, super-capacitors, and sensors. The semi-metallic nature of graphene when coupled with high carrier mobility and low opacity also makes graphene a good candidate for use as a transparent conductor for photovoltaic devices, touch panels, and displays. Graphene structures also have high chemical resistance and are relatively flexible when compared to some other transparent conductor materials such as indium tin oxide (ITO). Bilayer graphene (BLG) in particular holds further promise for use in post-silicon electronics applications because a bandgap up to 250 meV can be induced in the material using an electric field, which is not possible with single or monolayer graphene (SLG), and because exciton binding energies in BLG are tunable by electric field-induced bandgap.
A monolayer or single layer graphene is a plane of carbon atoms bonded in a hexagonal array. Multiple layers of graphene are typically formed by first forming a single layer of graphene and them transporting the single layer onto another layer of graphene. The main approach in fabricating graphene has been mechanical exfoliation and chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Growth of large-scale single or few-layers graphene has been shown on Cu or Ni surfaces. For device fabrication, the graphene grown on Cu or Ni is subsequently transferred onto another insulating substrate. In addition to adding complexity, the transportation step increases the risk of contaminating the graphene sheet.
Recently, it has been reported that a laser technique can be used for growing graphene on a nickel foil and also for epitaxially growing graphene on SiC. A method wherein few-layer graphene was grown on a silicon substrate using a laser-based technique without any metal catalysts has also been demonstrated. These methods produce graphene on a conductive substrate, however, and a transfer process is therefore needed for fabricating a graphene device on an insulating substrate.
What is needed therefore is a method of producing single or few layer graphene on a non-conductive surface. A method of producing few-layer graphene without the need to transport a single layer graphene is also needed.
A method of forming single and few layer graphene on a quartz substrate in one embodiment includes providing a quartz substrate, melting a portion of the quartz substrate, diffusing a form of carbon into the melted portion to form a carbon and quartz mixture, and precipitating graphene layer out of the carbon and quartz mixture.
In another embodiment, a method of forming at least one graphene layer includes providing a quartz substrate, forming a photoresist layer portion on an upper surface of the quartz substrate, the photoresist layer portion including the form of carbon, decomposing the photoresist layer portion to release the form of carbon, and coalescing the form of carbon into at least one graphene layer on the quartz substrate.
For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the disclosure, reference will now be made to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings and described in the following written specification. It is understood that no limitation to the scope of the disclosure is thereby intended. It is further understood that the present disclosure includes any alterations and modifications to the illustrated embodiments and includes further applications of the principles of the disclosure as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which this disclosure pertains.
A graphene dot is formed generally in accordance with a process 130 shown in
Additional detail for one example of the process 130 is described with initial reference to
A photoresist layer 142 in the form of a photoresist film was spin-coated on an upper surface 144 of the quartz substrate 140. The photoresists layer 142 was a 1:6 diluted S-1805 photoresist solution spun at 10,000 rpm. The resulting thickness of the photoresists layer 142 was less than 100 nm. While the photoresist layer 142 is shown in
Next, a quartz wafer 146 was positioned over the photoresist layer 142 (see
The growth chamber was pumped and purged with a high-purity N2 gas, and maintained at a pressure below 0.1 Torr. A beam 148 from a continuous wave (CW) Nd:YAG laser (Coherent Verdi) with a wavelength of 532 nm and a beam width of about 45 microns was focused on the S-1805 photoresist layer 142 through the transparent quartz wafer 146 using a lens of 150 mm focal length as depicted in
The focused beam 148 resulted in a high temperature of the portion 150 of the photoresist layer 142 that was in the beam 148, with the remainder of the photoresist layer 142 remaining at or about room temperature. The beam 148 thus heated the photoresist layer 142 causing the portion 150 of the photoresist layer 142 within the footprint of the beam 148 to decompose resulting in a form of carbon 152 provided in the photoresist layer 142 to be disassociated with the photoresist layer 142 as depicted in
For purpose of this example, the quartz substrate 140 and quartz wafer 146 were then moved by the high precision piezoelectric stage and a DC motorized stage to expose a different portion of the photoresist layer 142 to the beam 148. The high precision piezoelectric stage and DC motorized stage allow for precise positioning of the quartz substrate 140 and quartz wafer 146 with respect to the beam 148. Accordingly, a pattern (discussed below) of one or more graphene layers 154 was formed.
To better understand the formation process of the one or more graphene layers 154 optical images were taken with an optical microscope (Olympus BX40) with reflected light illumination, and atomic force microscopy (AFM) images were taken using an AFM (Veeco Dimension 3100) with the tapping mode under ambient conditions. Raman spectroscopy and mapping was performed using a laser micro-Raman systems (XploRA, with laser excitation at 532 nm) equipped with a motorized sample stage. A 100× objective lens was used, and laser spot size was ˜0.6 μm. For Raman spectroscopy, the accumulation time was 20 seconds, and for Raman mapping, each spectrum was an average of 3 acquisitions (3s of accumulation time per acquisition).
The diameter of the graphene layers or dots 154 is about 50 μm. The higher magnification optical micrograph in
The nature and quality of graphene dots 154 formed by laser irradiation were evaluated using Raman spectroscopy. The main hallmarks of graphene are three Raman peaks, including D (˜1350 cm−1), G (˜1580 cm−1), and 2D (˜2700 cm−1) bands. The D band is the so-called “defect peak” of graphene, and the intensity ratio of D to G bands (ID/IG) is a significant parameter to identify disorder of graphene. The 2D band is the most prominent feature in the Raman spectra of graphene, and its position, shape, I2D/IG intensity ratio, and full width at half-maximum (FWHM) are well-established characteristics of graphene layers.
The scan Raman mapping with the ratio ID/IG and I2D/IG of the graphene layer 154 is shown in
Between the circle 164 and 166, ID/IG increases from 0.3 to 0.6 while the I2D/IG drops from 0.7 to 0.5. Outside of the circle 166, the ID/IG increases abruptly to 0.8-1.0 while the I2D/IG drops precipitously from 0.4 near the circle 166 to about 0.1 at point “C”. Hence, the growth of graphene occurs predominantly within the circle 164 with a transition to carbon between the circle 166 and the circle 164 and then to the photoresist layer 142 (no graphene) outside of the circle 166.
The Raman spectra chart 180 shown in
Within the circle 164, strong 2D bands 192/194 are evidenced at 2696 cm−1 with a FWHM (2D) of 58 cm−1 at the points A and B. Monolayer graphene results in a 2D band position at 2680 cm−1 with a FWHM (2D) of 30 cm−1. The up-shifted and wider 2D bands 192/194 indicate that bi- or tri-layer graphene structures were produced.
The I2D/IG ratio from 0.7 to 1.0 within the circle 164 also indicates that the graphene layer 154 has bi- or tri-layer structure. On the other hand, the ID/IG ratio is an indication of the graphene crystallite sizes, La(nm), which can be estimated as La=(2.4×10−10)λ14(ID/IG), where X is the Raman laser line wavelength in nanometers. From the experimental data, the ID/IG ratio from 0.1 to 0.2 corresponds to the graphene domain size between 96 and 192 nm. Moreover, the correlation of the size of the area of graphene formation with the size of the beam width of the laser 148 indicates that the size, shape, and location of the formed graphene can be precisely controlled by controlling the area irradiated with the laser beam 148.
From the topographical data of
In order to investigate further the remodeling of the quartz substrate 140, a series of microscope images and Raman spectra were obtained after varying exposure times of the quartz substrate 140, photoresist layer 142, and quartz wafer 146 to the laser beam 148. The images are depicted in
Image 200 of
Image 206 of
The Raman spectra 212 of
Image 220 was taken after a 40 second exposure. Noticeable changes are evident in comparing image 220 to image 206. The diameter of the ring 208 has expanded to substantially the same size as the circle identified as starting to form in image 202. The ring 208 is also more clearly defined. Additionally, the center portion 210 has expanded, while maintaining substantially the same shading as the smaller version of the center portion 210 in image 206.
The Raman spectra 222 of
Image 230 was taken after a one minute exposure. Further changes are evident in comparing image 230 to image 220. The diameter of the ring 208 has expanded to substantially the same size as the circle identified as starting to form in image 202. The ring 208 is also brighter, but the inner edge of the ring 208 is rougher than in the image 220. Additionally, the center portion 210 has expanded, and a darker central portion 232 is evident.
The Raman spectra 234 of
Image 250 was taken after a two minute exposure. The main difference when comparing image 250 to image 230 is that the darker central portion 232 has enlarged significantly. The ring 208 is also slightly brighter, and better defined than in the image 230.
The Raman spectra 252 of
Image 260 was taken after a three minute exposure. The main difference when comparing image 260 to image 250 is that the darker central portion 232 appears to extend completely to the edge of the ring 208 and the ring 208 is brighter in image 260. The ring 208 in image 260 has also expanded in diameter, although it is still smaller in diameter than the circle 202.
The Raman spectra 262 of
Image 270 was taken after a five minutes exposure. The main difference when comparing image 270 to image 260 is that another dark portion 272 has appeared within the darker central portion 232. Additionally, the ring 208 has expanded to be substantially the same diameter as the circle 202.
The Raman spectra 274 of
Several conclusions are possible based upon the foregoing data. For example,
More specifically,
In the absence of remodeling of the quartz wafer 146 which is exposed to the carbon vapor but not the amorphous carbon, the main or sole heat transfer mechanism is the amorphous carbon in contact with the quartz substrate 140. Consequently, the appearance of the ring 208 in image 206 indicates that amorphous carbon was formed slightly prior to the twenty second image 206.
Once the quartz substrate 140 begins to melt, at least some of the amorphous carbon is infused into the melted quartz. The carbon vapor which is trapped by the quartz wafer 146 provides another source for infusion of carbon into the melted quartz, and increases the amount of graphene which is ultimately formed. The quartz wafer 146 also acts as a thermal insulator, keeping the portion of the quartz substrate 140 within the laser beam 148 from losing heat.
Once the laser beam 148 is terminated, the melted quartz begins to cool. During cooling of the melted quartz/carbon mixture, the dissolved carbon atoms are separated and nucleated. These precipitated carbon atoms form graphene segments because sp2-bonded graphene is energetically more favorable than spa-rich amorphous carbon.
The conducting quality of a graphene layer formed in accordance with the above described laser-induced process was evaluated using the device 300. In the device 300, each of the contacts 304, 306, 308, 310, 312, 314, 316, and 318 is positioned 20 μm away from the oppositely positioned contact. Sheet resistance between oppositely position contacts was obtained by 2-point current-voltage (I-V) measurement and 4-point Van der Pauw method at the room temperature. Results of a current-voltage (I-V) measurement obtained between the oppositely positioned contacts are depicted in graph 330 of
The results depicted in
The laser-induced graphene formation process described herein provides a laser-induced graphene growth method for growing graphene directly on an insulating substrate, quartz. This simple, rapid, single-step, and controllable method for synthesizing graphene has significant promise for graphene-device fabrication and applications. The laser-induced graphene formation process is in general an attractive alternative technique for materials synthesis, with the intrinsic benefits of localized, fast, and single-step synthesis. In contrast to the conventional thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, laser-induced graphene formation can produce a much higher temperature in a confined area, while the rest of the material (substrate) still maintains at the room temperature.
The data presented above further indicates that as is true with the commonly used CVD approach for growing graphene on metals, the growth temperature, pressure, concentration of carbon sources, and solubility of carbon are basic factors, which contribute to the formation and quality of graphene film in the laser-induced graphene formation process. Deformation of the laser-processed area, however, suggests that the surface experienced melting in the formation of graphene. Therefore, the growth mechanism of graphene on quartz is not the same as the surface-catalyzed process or carbon dissolution and precipitation in solid metal when graphene is grown in metal.
While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, the same should be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character. Only the preferred embodiments have been presented and all changes, modifications and further applications that come within the spirit of the invention are desired to be protected.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/655,540 filed Jun. 5, 2012, the entire contents of which are each herein incorporated by reference.
This invention was made with government support under CMMI 1120577 awarded by the National Science Foundation and under N66001-08-1-2037 awarded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The government has certain rights in the invention.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61655540 | Jun 2012 | US |