Polymer-Free Patterning of Graphene at Sub-10-nm Scale by Low-Energy Repetitive Electron Beam

A polymer‐free technique for generating nanopatterns on both synthesized and exfoliated graphene sheets is proposed and demonstrated. A low‐energy (5–30 keV) scanning electron beam with variable repetition rates is used to etch suspended and unsuspended graphene sheets on designed locations. The pat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) Germany), 2014-11, Vol.10 (22), p.4778-4784
Main Authors: Lan, Yann-Wen, Chang, Wen-Hao, Xiao, Bo-Tang, Liang, Bo-Wei, Chen, Jyun-Hong, Jiang, Pei-hsun, Li, Lain-Jong, Su, Ya-Wen, Zhong, Yuan-Liang, Chen, Chii-Dong
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Carbon
defect-induced knockout
Electron beams
Etching
Exfoliation
Graphene
graphene nanoribbons
graphene transfers
Graphite
heat-induced curling
Low energy
Nanostructure
Nanotechnology
Patterning
polymer-free
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Summary:A polymer‐free technique for generating nanopatterns on both synthesized and exfoliated graphene sheets is proposed and demonstrated. A low‐energy (5–30 keV) scanning electron beam with variable repetition rates is used to etch suspended and unsuspended graphene sheets on designed locations. The patterning mechanisms involve a defect‐induced knockout process in the initial etching stage and a heat‐induced curling process in a later stage. Rough pattern edges appear due to inevitable stochastic knockout of carbon atoms or graphene structure imperfection and can be smoothed by thermal annealing. By using this technique, the minimum feature sizes achieved are about 5 nm for suspended and 7 nm for unsuspended graphene. This study demonstrates a polymer‐free direct nanopatterning approach for graphene. A polymer‐free, low‐energy (5–30 keV) direct electron‐beam patterning technique on both suspended and unsuspended graphene monolayers is demonstrated. The patterning mechanisms involve defect‐induced knockout and heat‐induced curling. Both exfoliated and chemical‐vapor‐deposited graphene layers are tested, and the minimum feature sizes achieved are 5 and 7 nm for the suspended and unsuspended graphene sheets, respectively.
ISSN:1613-6810
1613-6829
DOI:10.1002/smll.201401523