Atomic-Layer-Deposition-Made Very Thin Layer of Al2O3, Improves the Young’s Modulus of Graphene

Nanostructures with graphene make them highly promising for nanoelectronics, memristor devices, nanosensors and electrodes for energy storage. In some devices the mechanical properties of graphene are important. Therefore, nanoindentation has been used to measure the mechanical properties of polycry...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inApplied sciences Vol. 12; no. 5; p. 2491
Main Authors Tamm, Aile, Kahro, Tauno, Piirsoo, Helle-Mai, Jõgiaas, Taivo
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.03.2022
Subjects
Aluminum oxide
Atomic layer epitaxy
Calibration
Chemical vapor deposition
Deposition
Energy storage
Graphene
Mechanical properties
mechanical properties of thin film systems
Memristors
Modulus of elasticity
Morphology
Nanoelectronics
Nanoindentation
Nanosensors
Raman spectroscopy
Silicon dioxide
Silicon substrates
Thickness
Thin films
Young’s modulus
United Kingdom > UK
United States > US
Estonia
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Nanostructures with graphene make them highly promising for nanoelectronics, memristor devices, nanosensors and electrodes for energy storage. In some devices the mechanical properties of graphene are important. Therefore, nanoindentation has been used to measure the mechanical properties of polycrystalline graphene in a nanostructure containing metal oxide and graphene. In this study the graphene was transferred, prior to the deposition of the metal oxide overlayers, to the Si/SiO2 substrate were SiO2 thickness was 300 nm. The atomic layer deposition (ALD) process for making a very thin film of Al2O3 (thickness comparable with graphene) was applied to improve the elasticity of graphene. For the alumina film the Al(CH3)3 and H2O were used as the precursors. According to the micro-Raman analysis, after the Al2O3 deposition process, the G-and 2D-bands of graphene slightly broadened but the overall quality did not change (D-band was mostly absent). The chosen process did not decrease the graphene quality and the improvement in elastic modulus is significant. In case the load was 10 mN, the Young’s modulus of Si/SiO2/Graphene nanostructure was 96 GPa and after 5 ALD cycles of Al2O3 on graphene (Si/SiO2/Graphene/Al2O3) it increased up to 125 GPa. Our work highlights the correlation between nanoindentation and defects appearance in graphene.
ISSN:2076-3417
2076-3417
DOI:10.3390/app12052491