Low resistive edge contacts to CVD-grown graphene using a CMOS compatible metal

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the fabrication of low-resistance edge contacts to large-area CVD-grown graphene using CMOS-compatible metals, achieving low contact resistance suitable for electronic applications.

Contribution

It introduces a CMOS-compatible fabrication process for low-resistance edge contacts to CVD graphene using Nickel and Aluminum metals.

Findings

Low contact resistance achieved with edge contacts

Use of CMOS-compatible metals for fabrication

Effective characterization via TLM and Kelvin Probe Microscopy

Abstract

The exploitation of the excellent intrinsic electronic properties of graphene for device applications is hampered by a large contact resistance between the metal and graphene. The formation of edge contacts rather than top contacts is one of the most promising solutions for realizing low ohmic contacts. In this paper the fabrication and characterization of edge contacts to large area CVD-grown monolayer graphene by means of optical lithography using CMOS compatible metals, i.e. Nickel and Aluminum is reported. Extraction of the contact resistance by Transfer Line Method (TLM) as well as the direct measurement using Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy demonstrates a very low width specific contact resistance.