Abstract
Graphene nanoribbons are ideal candidates to serve as highly conductive, flexible, and transparent interconnections, or the active channels for nanoelectronics. However, patterning narrow graphene nanoribbons to <100 nm wide usually requires inefficient micro/nano fabrication processes, which are hard to implement for large area or flexible electronic and sensory applications. Here, we develop a precise and scalable nanowire lithography technology that enables reliable batch manufacturing of ultra-long graphene nanoribbon arrays with programmable geometry and narrow width down to ~50 nm. The orderly graphene nanoribbons are patterned out of few-layer graphene sheets by using ultra-long silicon nanowires as masks, which are produced via in-plane solid–liquid–solid guided growth and then transferred reliably onto various stiff or flexible substrates. More importantly, the geometry of the graphene nanoribbons can be predesigned and engineered into elastic two-dimensional springs to achieve outstanding stretchability of >30%, while carrying stable and repeatable electronic transport. We suggest that this convenient scalable nanowire lithography technology has great potential to establish a general and efficient strategy to batch-pattern or integrate various two-dimensional materials as active channels and interconnections for emerging flexible electronic applications.
Highlights
In order to be integrated into planar circuitry, as conductive interconnections[11,12,13] or active channels, the graphene film has to be patterned into narrow ribbons with controlled width and precise spatial arrangement.[14,15,16,17]
Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) of tens of nanometers wide are etched out of graphene monolayer, by using sophisticated electron beam lithography (EBL),[18] which is too expansive to implement for large-scale flexible electronics
Al2O3 nano belts, formed at the step edges of graphene stacks, have been utilized to serve as nano-stripe masks for multilayer graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) patterning.[25]. This approach strongly relies on the initial positions of graphene stack edges, and the distribution and geometry of the as-produced GNRs are limited to discrete concentric ribbon circles.[25]
Summary
The outstanding electronic transport,[1] mechanical[2], and optical properties[3] of graphene have made it an ideal candidate for constructing flexible and transparent electronics, detectors and biosensors.[4,5,6,7,8,9,10] In order to be integrated into planar circuitry, as conductive interconnections[11,12,13] or active channels, the graphene film has to be patterned into narrow ribbons with controlled width and precise spatial arrangement.[14,15,16,17] Usually, graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) of tens of nanometers wide are etched out of graphene monolayer, by using sophisticated electron beam lithography (EBL),[18] which is too expansive to implement for large-scale flexible electronics. We propose and demonstrate a readily scalable and yet precise nanowire lithography (NWL) strategy, where ultra-long and orderly silicon nanowires (SiNWs), produced via a guided inplane solid–liquid–solid (IPSLS) growth,[37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45] are transferred onto the monolayer or few-layer graphene sheet to serve as nano shadow masks By this way, very thin GNRs of DGNR ~ 50 nm can be reliably patterned over the large area wafer or flexible polymer substrates, with a programmable layout and geometry. Taking the bottom SiO2 dielectric layer thickness of 285 nm, an average GNR channel width of DGNR ~ 100 nm, the extracted carrier mobility in the GNRs is ~600 cm2/Vs, which
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
