High-κ oxide nanoribbons as gate dielectrics for high mobility top-gated graphene transistors

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 107; no. 15; pp. 6711 - 6715
• Main Authors: Liao, Lei, Bai, Jingwei, Qu, Yongquan, Lin, Yung-chen, Li, Yujing, Huang, Yu, Duan, Xiangfeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 13.04.2010; National Acad Sciences
• Subjects: Algorithms; Aluminum Oxide - chemistry; Carrier mobility; Crystallization - instrumentation; Dielectric materials; Electric potential; Electrodes; Electronics - instrumentation; Equipment Design; Graphene; Graphite - chemistry; Materials Testing; Microscopy, Atomic Force - methods; Microscopy, Electron, Transmission - methods; Nanostructures - chemistry; Nanotechnology; Nanotechnology - instrumentation; Nanotechnology - methods; Narrative devices; Oxides; Physical Sciences; Room temperature; Surface Properties; Transistors; Transistors, Electronic
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0914117107

Deposition of high-κ dielectrics onto graphene is of significant challenge due to the difficulties of nucleating high quality oxide on pristine graphene without introducing defects into the monolayer of carbon lattice. Previous efforts to deposit high-κ dielectrics on graphene often resulted in significant degradation in carrier mobility. Here we report an entirely new strategy to integrate high quality high-κ dielectrics with graphene by first synthesizing freestanding high-κ oxide nanoribbons at high temperature and then transferring them onto graphene at room temperature. We show that single crystalline Al₂O₃ nanoribbons can be synthesized with excellent dielectric properties. Using such nanoribbons as the gate dielectrics, we have demonstrated top-gated graphene transistors with the highest carrier mobility (up to 23,600 cm²/V·s) reported to date, and a more than 10-fold increase in transconductance compared to the back-gated devices. This method opens a new avenue to integrate high-κ dielectrics on graphene with the preservation of the pristine nature of graphene and high carrier mobility, representing an important step forward to high-performance graphene electronics.