Growth of few- and multilayer graphene on different substrates using pulsed nanosecond Q-switched Nd:YAG laser

Abstract

In this report, few- and multilayer graphene was fabricated on different substrates by pulsed laser ablation of a highly ordered pyrolytic graphite target under optimized growth conditions, using a pulsed nanosecond Q-switched Nd:YAG laser at 355 nm (3.5 eV). The nondestructive micro-Raman spectroscopic study on our samples has revealed few- and multilayer graphene formation. The number of graphene layers was found to be reduced with the increase in growth temperature. At substrate temperature of 750 °C, the ratio of intensities (I 2D/I G) was calculated from the Raman spectra of the graphene samples to be 0.15 which confirms the multilayer graphene formation, while for graphene film grown at 800 °C, I 2D/I G ratio was 0.27 indicating formation of less than five layers of graphene or few-layer graphene. The thickness of few- and multilayer graphene was also confirmed using atomic force microscopy, whereas the microstructure of few- and multilayer graphene was investigated using scanning electron microscopy. The electrical properties in function of growth temperature were evaluated with two-point probe measurements. This work presents a simple, fast, and controllable alternative effective laser technique to synthesize few- or multilayer graphene.