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Atomic layer etching of graphene through controlled ion beam for graphene-based electronics.
Ki Seok Kim1, You Jin Ji1, Yeonsig Nam2
1School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, 2066 Seobu-ro, Jangan-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do, 16419, Republic of Korea.
Scientific Reports
|May 28, 2017
Summary
Atomic layer etching (ALE) precisely controls graphene layers without damage. This technique uses oxygen ions for adsorption and argon ions for desorption, enabling fabrication of single- and double-layer graphene from trilayer material.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
- Surface Science
Background:
- Graphene's electronic and optical properties critically depend on its layer count.
- Precise control over the number of graphene layers is essential for advanced electronic devices.
- Existing methods for layer control can cause damage or contamination.
Purpose of the Study:
- To demonstrate a damage-free atomic layer etching (ALE) process for precise control of graphene layers.
- To establish ALE as a viable technique for fabricating specific numbers of graphene layers.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a cyclic process involving chemical adsorption via controlled low-energy oxygen ions (O2+/O+) and physical desorption via low-energy argon ions (Ar+, 11.2 eV).
- Applied the ALE process to trilayer graphene samples.
Main Results:
- Successfully fabricated monolayer and bilayer graphene from trilayer graphene using one and two ALE cycles, respectively.
- The ALE process caused no noticeable damage to the graphene structure.
- Demonstrated precise layer control at the atomic level.
Conclusions:
- The developed ALE technique offers a precise and damage-free method for controlling graphene layer numbers.
- This ALE approach is potentially applicable to other layered materials like black phosphorus and transition metal dichalcogenides.
- The technique holds promise for fabricating next-generation electronic devices.
