Safe growth of graphene from non-flammable gas mixtures via chemical vapor deposition

Abstract

Abstract:

Chemical vapor deposition has emerged as the most promising technique for the growth of graphene. However, most reports of this technique use either flammable or explosive gases, which bring safety concerns and extra costs to manage risk factors. In this article, we demonstrate that continuous monolayer graphene can be synthesized via chemical vapor deposition technique on Cu foils using industrially safe gas mixtures. Important factors, including the appropriate ratio of hydrogen flow and carbon precursor, pressure, and growth time are considered to obtain graphene films. Optical measurements and electrical transport measurements indicate graphene films are with comparable quality to other reports. Such continuous large area graphene can be synthesized under non-flammable and non-explosive conditions, which opens a safe and economical method for mass production of graphene. It is thereby beneficial for integration of graphene into semiconductor electronics.

Key words: Graphene, Safe growth, Non-flammable, Chemical vapor deposition (CVD), Contact resistance, Transfer length method

Feng Ying,J. Trainer Daniel,Peng Hongshang,Liu Ye,Chen Ke. Safe growth of graphene from non-flammable gas mixtures via chemical vapor deposition[J]. J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2017, 33(3): 285-290.

Figures/Tables 8

Fig. 1. Schematic of a typical graphene CVD grown process (T: temperature).

Fig. 2. SEM images of electronic devices for graphene electrical property measurements. (a) six-terminal Hall bar; (b) square shape of van der Pauw device; (c) graphene strip for TLM.

Fig. 3. SEM images of a pristine Cu foil (a), a Cu foil after exposing in atmosphere for several weeks (b), a Cu foil pre-cleaned in acetic acid (c), and graphene film on a Cu substrate with 90?min CVD growth (d).

Fig. 4. Representative SEM images of graphene flakes grown on Cu foils when CVD growth time less than around 30?min (a), the H2/CH4 volume ratio greater than 1:2 (b).

Fig. 5. (a) SEM image of continuous graphene film grown on Cu foils; (b) zoomed-in image from (a); (c) SEM image of a Cu foil in topographical imaging mode before any treatments; (d) SEM image of a Cu foil in topographical imaging mode after graphene growth. (b) and (d) are the same places on the sample.

Fig. 6. (a) Optical image of continuous graphene film transferred on SiO2 (285?nm)/Si wafer; (b) Raman spectrum of the transferred graphene.

Table 1 Sheet resistivity and charge mobility of graphene[16].

Sample	T (K)	R_□ (kΩ)	n_□?10¹²×(cm^-2)	μ (cm²/V^-1?s^-1)
No. 1 (Hall?bar)	300	1.18	5.7	920
No. 2 (van der Pauw)	300	3.59	3.7	470
No. 3 (van der Pauw)	300	1.42	5.4	820

Fig. 7. Resistance obtained for graphene with different lengths by TLM and its liner fitting. The dotted line indicates a linear extrapolation of fitting data to d?=?0 axis.

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