Suspended graphene on germanium: selective local etching via laser-induced photocorrosion of germanium

Abstract

The implementation of graphene in nanoelectromechanical systems and electronic applications requires not only techniques to fabricate high-quality monolayers, but also methods to process these layers. Nondestructive processing is especially challenging in the case of fragile suspended graphene membranes. In this work, we present a direct writing method for graphene grown on germanium that yields suspended layers without the need to transfer the graphene layer. To this end, we employ laser-induced photoelectrochemical etching which is highly selective and dissolves only germanium leaving the graphene layer intact. Only a focused continuous wave laser beam and water (or an aqueous solution) are required for the etching to proceed. Raman spectroscopy measurements were performed in-situ to monitor the etching process. These measurements reveal a dramatic increase of the graphene-related Raman bands as the graphene layer detaches from the substrate. This substantial increase indicates that the commonly observed weak Raman signal for graphene on germanium is not an inherent material property but is due to the interaction of the germanium substrate with graphene. Together with the established graphene growth on germanium, the presented direct writing method builds a complete toolbox for graphene membrane-based applications.