Abstract
A key common problem for vertical few-layer graphene (VFLG) applications in electronic devices is the solution to grow on substrates. In this study, four kinds of substrates (silicon, stainless-steel, quartz and carbon-cloth) were examined to understand the mechanism of the nucleation and growth of VFLG by using the inductively-coupled plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (ICPCVD) method. The theoretical and experimental results show that the initial nucleation of VFLG was influenced by the properties of the substrates. Surface energy and catalysis of substrates had a significant effect on controlling nucleation density and nucleation rate of VFLG at the initial growth stage. The quality of the VFLG sheet rarely had a relationship with this kind of substrate and was prone to being influenced by growth conditions. The characterization of conductivity and field emissions for a single VFLG were examined in order to understand the influence of substrates on the electrical property. The results showed that there was little difference in the conductivity of the VFLG sheet grown on the four substrates, while the interfacial contact resistance of VFLG on the four substrates showed a tremendous difference due to the different properties of said substrates. Therefore, the field emission characterization of the VFLG sheet grown on stainless-steel substrate was the best, with the maximum emission current of 35 µA at a 160 V/μm electrostatic field. This finding highlights the controllable interface of between VFLG and substrates as an important issue for electrical application.
Highlights
Substrates are indispensable carriers for electronic devices using nano-materials which have significant influence on its performance, especially for field emission cold-cathode devices
To elucidate the influence of substrates on the nucleation and growth of vertical few-layer graphene (VFLG) the VFLG were grown on semiconductor Si, metal stainless-steel, flexible carbon-cloth and insulator quartz substrates through inductively-coupled plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (ICPCVD) under the same growth conditions
The growth of VFLG increased beyond the substrate; the substrate had
Summary
Substrates are indispensable carriers for electronic devices using nano-materials which have significant influence on its performance, especially for field emission cold-cathode devices. Among nano-materials, vertical few-layer graphene (VFLG) has been considered one of the most ideal field emission materials due to its excellent electrical properties and sharp edges, etc. Jiang et al reported that VFLG grown on a copper (Cu) substrate had far better field emission characteristics, which had a turn-on electric field of 1.3 V/μm, a threshold field of 3.0 V μm−1 and fieldenhancement factor of 1.1 × 104 [8]. Wang et al found that VFLG on a silicon (Si) substrate with a different surface topography results a different shape and further influences its field emission characteristics [9]. VFLG shows different field emission characteristics when grown on various substrates.
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