Abstract
We report a one-step polymer-free approach to patterning graphene using a stencil mask and oxygen plasma reactive-ion etching, with a subsequent polymer-free direct transfer for flexible graphene devices. Our stencil mask is fabricated via a subtractive, laser cutting manufacturing technique, followed by lamination of stencil mask onto graphene grown on Cu foil for patterning. Subsequently, micro-sized graphene features of various shapes are patterned via reactive-ion etching. The integrity of our graphene after patterning is confirmed by Raman spectroscopy. We further demonstrate the rapid prototyping capability of a stretchable, crumpled graphene strain sensor and patterned graphene condensation channels for potential applications in sensing and heat transfer, respectively. We further demonstrate that the polymer-free approach for both patterning and transfer to flexible substrates allows the realization of cleaner graphene features as confirmed by water contact angle measurements. We believe that our new method promotes rapid, facile fabrication of cleaner graphene devices, and can be extended to other two dimensional materials in the future.
Highlights
Conventional microfabrication-based photolithography requires extensive process steps, and yet suffers from polymeric residue[28] introduced during graphene patterning
We report a one-step facile method to pattern graphene by using stencil mask and oxygen plasma reactive-ion etching (RIE), and subsequent polymer-free direct transfer to flexible substrates
In conjunction with the recent evolution of additive and subtractive manufacturing techniques such as three-dimensional (3D) printing and computer numerical control (CNC) milling, we developed a simple and scalable graphene patterning technique using a stencil mask fabricated via a laser cutter
Summary
Conventional microfabrication-based photolithography requires extensive process steps, and yet suffers from polymeric residue[28] introduced during graphene patterning. We report a one-step facile method to pattern graphene by using stencil mask and oxygen plasma reactive-ion etching (RIE), and subsequent polymer-free direct transfer to flexible substrates. Our approach to patterning graphene using a stencil mask is based upon the shadow mask technique that has been employed for contact metal deposition[29,30] Are these stencil masks and rapidly manufacturable (for iterative rapid prototyping), but they are reusable, enabling cost-effective pattern replication. Since our approach involves neither a polymeric transfer layer nor chemicals (organic solvents), we are able to obtain contamination-free graphene patterns directly on various flexible substrates
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