Large-Area Synthesis of High-Quality and Uniform Graphene Films on Copper Foils

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 324; no. 5932; pp. 1312 - 1314
• Main Authors: Li, Xuesong, Cai, Weiwei, An, Jinho, Kim, Seyoung, Nah, Junghyo, Yang, Dongxing, Piner, Richard, Velamakanni, Aruna, Jung, Inhwa, Tutuc, Emanuel, Banerjee, Sanjay K, Colombo, Luigi, Ruoff, Rodney S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Association for the Advancement of Science 05.06.2009; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Carbon; Chemical synthesis; Copper; Crystal lattices; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Grain boundaries; Graphene; Graphite; Material films; Materials; Metal foils; Raman scattering; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Solubility; Thin films; Transistors; Band structure; Multilayer coating; Solubility; Chemical vapor deposition; Physical properties; Grain boundary; Field effect transistor; High electron mobility transistor; Metal coating; Graphene; Silicon oxides; Property structure relationship; Copper; Room temperature
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1171245

Graphene has been attracting great interest because of its distinctive band structure and physical properties. Today, graphene is limited to small sizes because it is produced mostly by exfoliating graphite. We grew large-area graphene films of the order of centimeters on copper substrates by chemical vapor deposition using methane. The films are predominantly single-layer graphene, with a small percentage (less than 5%) of the area having few layers, and are continuous across copper surface steps and grain boundaries. The low solubility of carbon in copper appears to help make this growth process self-limiting. We also developed graphene film transfer processes to arbitrary substrates, and dual-gated field-effect transistors fabricated on silicon/silicon dioxide substrates showed electron mobilities as high as 4050 square centimeters per volt per second at room temperature.