Scanning microwave microscope imaging of micro-patterned monolayer graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition

Abstract

Characterization of micro-patterned chemical vapor deposited monolayer graphene using a scanning microwave microscope has been presented. Monolayer graphene sheets deposited on a copper substrate were transferred to a variety of substrates and micro-patterned into a periodic array of parallel lines. The measured complex reflection coefficients exhibit a strong dependency on the operating frequency and on the samples' electrical conductivity and permittivity. The experiments show an extremely high sensitivity by detecting image contrast between single and double layer graphene sheets. Correlating the images recorded at the half- and quarter-wavelength resonant frequencies shows that the relative permittivity of the single layer graphene sheet is above 105. The results are in good agreement with the three dimensional numerical electromagnetic simulations. This method may be instrumental for a comprehensive understanding of the scanning microwave microscope image contrast and provide a unique technique to estimate the local electrical properties with nano-meter scale spatial resolution of two dimensional materials at radio frequency.