Effects of substrate defects on the carbon cluster formation in graphene growth on Ni(111) surface

The growth of graphene by chemical vapor deposition on transition metal has shown promise in this regard. The main hurdle for further improvement is the lack of complete understanding of the atomistic processes involved in the early growth stages, which is conceivable because there are too many factors affecting the growth process. Using first-principles calculations, we investigate the effect of substrate defects on the graphene nucleation on the Ni(111) surface. Our calculations reveal that the defects on substrates can induce the carbon aggregation, and the corresponding structures are completely different from that on the perfect Ni surface. We also compare the critical cluster sizes for the transition from one-dimensional carbon chains to two-dimensional graphene flakes in the growth sequence. Our investigations on the effects of substrate defects would be extremely useful for the future experimental synthesis of high-quality graphene.     

介电层表面直接生长石墨烯的研究进展

作为21世纪备受瞩目的材料,石墨烯兼具优异的电、热、光与力学性质,具有十分广阔的研究价值与应用价值.目前主要通过在金属基底上生长获得石墨烯,并将其转移至目标介电层基底上以构筑电子器件.转移过程不可避免地引入了褶皱、裂纹、破损以及聚合物/金属残留,严重损害了石墨烯的性能.因而直接在介电基底上制备高质量的石墨烯薄膜具有重要意义.本文总结了近年来在介电衬底上直接生长石墨烯的研究进展:阐述了金属辅助法、等离子体增强法以及热力学或动力学调控法等多种生长手段;介绍了多种介电/绝缘基底包括SiO_2/Si,Al_2O_3,SrTiO_3,h-BN,SiC,Si_3N_4以及玻璃表面生长石墨烯的特点与性能,分析了其可能的生长机理.根据拉曼谱图、薄层电阻、透光率、载流子迁移率等评估指标,将多种方法得到的石墨烯质量进行了总结与比较,并提出了直接在介电衬底上生成石墨烯的研究难点与趋势.     

Synthesis of Graphene and Its Applications: A Review

Graphene, one-atom-thick planar sheet of carbon atoms densely packed in a honeycomb crystal lattice, has grabbed appreciable attention due to its exceptional electronic and optoelectronic properties. The reported properties and applications of this two-dimensional form of carbon structure have opened up new opportunities for the future devices and systems. Although graphene is known as one of the best electronic materials, synthesizing single sheet of graphene has been less explored. This review article aims to present an overview of the advancement of research in graphene, in the area of synthesis, properties and applications, such as field emission, sensors, electronics, and energy. Wherever applicable, the limitations of present knowledgebase and future research directions have also been highlighted.     

Single-wafer optical processing of semiconductors thin insulator growth for integrated electronic device applications

This paper presents an overview of the single-wafer optical processing techniques for integrated circuit fabrication with an emphasis on their applications to insulator growth. Rapid thermal growth of various thin homogeneous and heterogeneous dielectrics on silicon substrates including silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, nitrided oxides, and composition-tailored insulators will be described and some electronic device applications of the rapidly grown dielectrics will be examined. Multicycle rapid growth processes have been used for dielectric structural engineering and in-situ formation of thin layered insulators. The compositional depth profiles and the electrical characteristics of devices are controlled through the synthesis of an appropriate sequence of the wafer temperature-vs-time profiles and process gas cycles. The ongoing developments and future prospects of single-wafer rapid processing for advanced microelectronics manufacturing will also be discussed.     

化学气相沉积石墨烯薄膜的洁净转移

石墨烯因其优异的性能在很多领域具有广阔的应用前景.目前石墨烯薄膜主要是以铜作为催化基底,通过化学气相沉积法制备.这种方法制备的石墨烯薄膜需要被转移到目标基底上进行后续应用,而转移过程则会对石墨烯造成污染,进而影响石墨烯的性质及器件的性能.如何减少或避免污染,实现石墨烯的洁净转移,是石墨烯薄膜转移技术研究的重要课题,也是本综述的主题.本综述首先简单介绍了石墨烯的转移方法;进而重点讨论由于转移而引入的各种污染物及其对石墨烯性质的影响,以及如何抑制污染物的引入或如何将其有效地去除;最后总结了石墨烯洁净转移所存在的挑战,展望了未来的研究方向和机遇.本综述不仅有助于石墨烯薄膜转移技术的研究,对整个二维材料器件的洁净制备也将有重要参考价值.     

双层石墨烯的化学气相沉积法制备及其光电器件

石墨烯是一种具有优异性质,在光电及能源领域具有巨大应用前景的二维材料.尽管单层石墨烯具有超高的迁移率,但是它的能带结构具有狄拉克锥(K点),即价带和导带并未有明显分离,所以在半导体器件方面的应用受到一定的限制.由双层石墨烯搭建而成的双门器件,在施加外加电场的情况下,它的带隙可以打开,并在一定范围内可调,这种性质赋予了双层石墨烯在半导体器件应用方面的前景.然而机械或者液相剥离石墨烯,在层数和大小方面可控性较差.如何通过化学气相沉积法可控制备双层石墨烯是目前研究的核心问题之一.本文主要综述了如何通过化学气相沉积法制备双层石墨烯和制备双层石墨烯器件的一系列工作,其中包括最新的研究进展,对生长机理的研究做了详细的介绍和讨论,并对该领域的发展进行了展望.     

Metal catalyst-assisted growth of GaN nanowires on graphene films for flexible photocatalyst applications

We report the growth of high-areal-density GaN nanowires on large-size graphene films using a nickel (Ni) catalyst-assisted vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) method. Before the nanowire growth, the graphene films were prepared on copper foils using hot-wall chemical vapor deposition and transferred onto SiO₂/Si substrates. Then, for catalyst-assisted VLS growth, Ni catalyst layers with thickness of a few nanometers were deposited on the graphene-coated substrates using a thermal evaporator. We investigated the effect of the Ni catalyst thickness on the formation of GaN nanowires. Furthermore, the structural and optical characteristics of GaN nanowires were investigated using X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The GaN nanowires grown on graphene films were transferred onto polymer substrates using a simple lift-off method for applications as flexible photocatalysts. Photocatalysis activities of the GaN nanowires prepared on the flexible polymer substrates were investigated under bending conditions.     

Insight into the growth mechanism of black phosphorus

Two-dimensional (2D) black phosphorus (BP) has attracted great attention in recent years in fundamental research as well as optoelectronics applications. The controllable synthesis of high-quality BP is vital to the investigation of its intrinsic physical properties and versatile applications. Originally, BP was mostly synthesized under high temperatures and pressures. Subsequently, metal flux, wet chemical and chemical vapor transport (CVT) methods had been appeared successively. The pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and CVT methods have been used to prepare high-quality BP thin films on silicon substrates, which is significant for its monolithic integration and practical applications. To meet the demand of the scalable applications of BP, the direct preparation of BP films on dielectric substrates that avoids additional transfer process, is crucial to high-performance device implementation. In this review, the growing methods and corresponding mechanisms of BP are summarized and analyzed. Meanwhile, the view on the controllable growth of large-area, high-quality BP films is envisioned.     

Near-field infrared response of graphene on copper substrate

The electronic properties of graphene are very sensitive to its dielectric environment. The coupling to a metal substrate can give rise to many novel quantum effects in graphene, such as band renormalization and plasmons with unusual properties, which are of high technological interest. Infrared nanoimaging are very suitable for exploring these effects considering their energy and length scales. Here, we report near-field infrared nanoimaging studies of graphene on copper synthesized by chemical vapor deposition. Remarkably, our measurements reveal three different types of near-field optical responses of graphene, which are very distinct from the near-field edge fringes observed in the substrate. These results can be understood from the modification of optical conductivity of graphene due to its coupling with the substrate. Our work provides a framework for identifying the near-field response of graphene in graphene/metal systems and paves the way for studying their novel physics and potential applications.     

Large-area graphene synthesis and its application to interface-engineered field effect transistors

This article reviews recent advances in the large-area synthesis of graphene sheets and the applications of such sheets to graphene-based transistors. Graphene is potentially useful in a wide range of practical applications that could benefit from its exceptional electrical, optical, and mechanical properties. Tremendous effort has been devoted to overcoming several fundamental limitations of graphene, such as a zero band gap and a low direct current conductivity-to-optical conductivity ratio. The intrinsic properties of graphene depend on the synthetic and transfer route, and this dependence has been intensively investigated. Several representative reports describing the application of graphene as a channel and electrode material for use in flexible transparent transistor devices are discussed. A fresh perspective on the optimization of graphene as a 2D framework for crystalline organic semiconductor growth is introduced, and its effects on transistor performance are discussed. This critical review provides insights and a new perspective on the development of high-quality large-area graphene and the optimization of graphene-based transistors.     

掺杂对硅烯的性能影响

硅烯是单原子层的硅薄膜,具有类石墨烯结构.因此拥有与石墨烯相似的各种奇特的热学、化学、光学和电学性质.近年来,硅烯引起了研究者的广泛关注,作为一种新型的二维狄拉克电子材料,硅烯在理论计算和实验上都取得了不少新的进展.本文主要在前人对硅烯实施边缘钝化、掺杂、外加电场、加应力或者表面官能团修饰和吸附等研究的情况下,结合当前硅烯的研究发展趋势,重点研究了不同掺杂对硅烯性质的影响,并探讨硅烯在未来硅基电子器件的应用前景.     

Polar oxide substrates for graphene growth: A first-principles investigation of graphene on MgO(111)

Given the recent excitement over the truly two-dimensional carbon “super” material – graphene, there is now much effort and focus on the various possibilities of engineering the band gap of graphene for its device applications. One possible and promising route will be to grow graphene directly on some non-metallic substrates. In this paper, we address the atomic and electronic structure of various graphene structures on the polar MgO(111) using first-principles density-functional theory (DFT) calculations. We find that graphene generally interacts strongly with the O-terminated polar oxide surface, forming strong chemical bonds, inferred from both energetics and detailed density-of-states analysis. We compare our theoretical findings with available experimental results, offering a possible direction for future band gap engineering of graphene on such oxide substrates.     

Intercalation of metals and silicon at the interface of epitaxial graphene and its substrates

Intercalations of metals and silicon between epitaxial graphene and its substrates are reviewed. For metal intercala- tion, seven different metals have been successfully intercalated at the interface of graphene/Ru（O001） and form different intercalated structures. Meanwhile, graphene maintains its original high quality after the intercalation and shows features of weakened interaction with the substrate. For silicon intercalation, two systems, graphene on Ru（O001） and on Ir（l I 1）, have been investigated. In both cases, graphene preserves its high quality and regains its original superlative properties after the silicon intercalation. More importantly, we demonstrate that thicker silicon layers can be intercalated at the interface, which allows the atomic control of the distance between graphene and the metal substrates. These results show the great potential of the intercalation method as a non-damaging approach to decouple epitaxial graphene from its substrates and even form a dielectric layer for future electronic applications.     

Manipulation of inherent characteristics of graphene through N and Mg atom co-doping; a DFT study

First-principles calculations were performed to investigate the structural, electronic, magnetic and optical properties of nitrogen (N) and magnesium (Mg) atom co-doped graphene systems. We observed that, N and Mg atom co-doping in graphene, introduces half-metallic properties in the electronic structure of graphene, introduces ferromagnetism behavior along with new trends in optical properties of graphene. Doping site and concentration of N and Mg atoms in graphene was changed and resulting effects of these changes on aforementioned properties were investigated. Through density of states plots we observed that, Mg atom sp orbitals mainly induced magnetic moments in graphene. It was revealed that, N/Mg atoms substitution in graphene introduces a red shift in absorption spectrum towards visible range and a finite absorption coefficient quantity value in 0 to 3 eV and 7 to 11 eV energy intervals is also produced, that is unavailable for absorption spectrum of intrinsic graphene. Moreover, N/Mg atoms co-doping produces increment in the reflectivity parameter of graphene in low lying energy region, while producing diminishing behavior in the higher energy range. These results offer a possibility to tune electronic, magnetic and optical characteristics of graphene sufficiently for utilization in graphene based spintronic and optoelectronic devices.     

Graphene's photonic and optoelectronic properties——A review

Due to its remarkable electrical and optical properties,graphene continues to receive more and more attention from researchers around the world.An excellent advantage of graphene is the possibility of controlling its charge density,and consequently,the management of its conductivity and dielectric constant,among other parameters.It is noteworthy that the control of these properties enables the obtaining of new optical/electronic devices,which would not exist based on conventional materials.However,to work in this area of science,it is necessary to have a thorough knowledge regarding the electrical/optical properties of graphene.In this review paper,we show these graphene properties very well detailed.     

Dual-band high impedance surface with graphene-based metasurfaces

High impedance surface (HIS) is an electromagnetic band gap (EBG) material that shows magnetic conductor surface properties within its band gap frequencies. The operation bandwidth is corresponding to the frequency range, where the reflection phase varies between +90^∘ and −90^∘. In this paper, a dual-band HIS is investigated based on planar periodic graphene arrays placed on a grounded dielectric substrate. Analytical circuit model of the graphene array together with the transmission line theory is employed to analyze the proposed structure. We demonstrate that the HIS bands can be adjusted by tuning the geometrical parameters of the structure and the Fermi level of graphene. The graphene-based HIS promises future applications in the low-profile, high gain and high efficiency antennas at THz frequencies.     

氧钝化石墨纳米带电子和光学性质的第一性原理

采用第一性原理方法,研究了氧原子钝化的扶手椅型石墨纳米带的结构、电磁特性和光学性质. 氧原子钝化的石墨纳米带比氢原子钝化稳定,显示出金属性质. 自旋极化计算的能带和态密度研究表明,该纳米带反铁磁态比铁磁态稳定,表现为反铁磁半导体特征. 由于边沿钝化的氧原子的影响,该系统的介电函数有明显的红移,且第一个介电峰主要由最高价带贡献. 介电函数、折射系数、吸收系数及能量损失等的峰值与电子跃迁吸收有关.     

Synthesis of high-quality monolayer graphene by low-power plasma

The growth of high-quality graphene on copper substrates has been intensively investigated using chemical vapor deposition (CVD). It, however, has been considered that the growth mechanism is different when graphene is synthesized using a plasma CVD. In this study, we demonstrate a dual role of hydrogen for the graphene growth on copper using an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) CVD. Hydrogen activates surface-bound carbon for the growth of high-quality monolayer graphene. In contrast, the role of an etchant is to manipulate the distribution of the graphene grains, which significantly depends on the plasma power. Atomic-resolution transmission electron microscopy study enables the mapping of graphene grains, which uncovers the distribution of grains and the number of graphene layers depending on the plasma power. In addition, the variation of electronic properties of the synthesized graphene relies on the plasma power.     

Growth protocols and characterization of epitaxial graphene on SiC elaborated in a graphite enclosure

The epitaxial growth of graphene by the sublimation of Si-terminated silicon carbide (SiC) is studied inside a graphite enclosure in a radio-frequency furnace by comparing different in situ processes involving hydrogen etching or not and different growth conditions. For the growth under vacuum, even with the surface preparation of hydrogen etching, the morphology of the synthesized graphene is found full of voids and defects in the form of a multilayer graphene film. For the growth under Ar, the hydrogen etching plays a vital role to improve the graphene quality in terms of surface roughness, the number of graphene layers and the domain size. For the graphene samples grown with the proposed protocol, the original combination of micro-probe Raman spectroscopy and simultaneous optical transmission and reflection measurements reveals a detailed spatially resolved image of the graphene domains with monolayer domain size of ~5×5 µm² on about 2/3 of the total sample surface. The magnetotransport data yield charge-carrier mobilities up to 2900 cm²/Vs as found for high quality graphene on the Si-face of SiC. The observed magnetoquantum oscillations in the magnetoresistance confirm the expected behavior of single-layer graphene.     

Electronic,thermal, and optical properties of graphene like SiCx structures: Significant effects of Si atom configurations

We investigate the electronic, thermal, and optical characteristics of graphene like SiC_x structure using model calculations based on density functional theory. The change in the energy bandgap can be tuned by the Si atomic configuration, rather than the dopants ratio. The effects of the concentration of the Si atoms and the shape of supercell are kept constant, and only the interaction effects of two Si atoms are studied by varying their positions. If the Si atoms are at the same sublattice positions, a maximum bandgap is obtained leading to an increased Seebeck coefficient and figure of merit. A deviation in the Wiedemann-Franz ratio is also found, and a maximum value of the Lorenz number is thus discovered. Furthermore, a significant red shift of the first peak of the imaginary part of the dielectric function towards the visible range of the electromagnetic radiation is observed. On the other hand, if the Si atoms are located at different sublattice positions, a small bandgap is seen because the symmetry of sublattice remains almost unchanged. Consequently, the Seebeck coefficient and the dielectric function are only slightly changed compared to pristine graphene. In addition, the electron energy loss function is suppressed in Si-doped graphene. These unique variations of the thermal and the optical properties of Si-doped graphene are of importance to understand experiments relevant to optoelectronic applications.