Monitoring the low doping regime in graphene using Raman 2D peak-splits: Comparison of gated Raman and transport measurements

TL;DR

This paper introduces a non-invasive optical Raman spectroscopy method to precisely measure low-level doping in graphene by analyzing 2D peak-splitting, correlating it with charge density, and surpassing previous optical techniques in sensitivity.

Contribution

The study demonstrates a novel Raman-based technique that accurately quantifies low doping levels in graphene, improving sensitivity over existing optical methods and enabling pre-fabrication quality assessment.

Findings

Raman 2D peak-splitting correlates strongly with charge density at low doping levels.

The method achieves a doping measurement precision of 2x10^10 cm^-2 per peak-split.

It extends optical doping detection range down to 10^10 cm^-2.

Abstract

Avoiding charge density fluctuations and impurities in graphene is vital for high-quality graphene-based devices. Traditional characterization methods require device fabrication and electrical transport measurements, which are labor-intensive and time-consuming. Existing optical methods using Raman spectroscopy only work for doping levels higher than ~10^12 cm^-2. Here, we propose an optical method using Raman 2D peak-splitting (split between the Raman 2D1 and 2D2 peaks at low doping levels). Electrostatically gated Raman measurements combined with transport measurements were used to correlate the 2D peak-split with the charge density on graphene with high precision (2x10^10 cm^-2 per 2D peak-split wavenumber). We found that the Raman 2D peak-split has a strong correlation with the charge density at low doping levels, and that a lower charge density results in a larger 2D peak-split. Our work provides a simple and non-invasive optical method to quantify the doping level of graphene from 10^10 cm^-2 to 10^12 cm^-2, two orders of magnitude higher precision than previously reported optical methods. This method provides a platform for estimating the doping level and quality of graphene before fabricating graphene devices