Directed self-organization of graphene nanoribbons on SiC

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a scalable method for growing semiconducting graphene nanoribbons on silicon carbide using templated growth on specific crystal facets, enabling high-density graphene device fabrication.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel templated growth technique on SiC facets for self-organized graphene nanoribbons, advancing scalable graphene electronics manufacturing.

Findings

Successful growth of graphene nanoribbons on SiC facets confirmed by Raman and HRTEM.

Fabrication of over 10,000 top-gated graphene transistors on a single chip.

Highest density of graphene devices reported to date.

Abstract

Realization of post-CMOS graphene electronics requires production of semiconducting graphene, which has been a labor-intensive process. We present tailoring of silicon carbide crystals via conventional photolithography and microelectronics processing to enable templated graphene growth on 4H-SiC{1-10n} (n = 8) crystal facets rather than the customary {0001} planes. This allows self-organized growth of graphene nanoribbons with dimensions defined by those of the facet. Preferential growth is confirmed by Raman spectroscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) measurements, and electrical characterization of prototypic graphene devices is presented. Fabrication of > 10,000 top-gated graphene transistors on a 0.24 cm2 SiC chip demonstrates scalability of this process and represents the highest density of graphene devices reported to date.