Transfer And Patterning Of Chemical Vapor Deposited Graphene By A Multifunctional Polymer Film

Graphene is seeking pathways towards applications, but there are still plenty of unresolved problems on the way. Many of those obstacles are related to synthesis and processing of graphene. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of graphene is currently one of the most promising techniques that enable scalable synthesis of high quality graphene on a copper substrate. From the transient metal substrate, the CVD graphene film is transferred to the desired dielectric substrate. Most often, the transfer process is done by using a supporting poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) film, which is also a widely used electron beam resist. Conventionally, after graphene is transferred to the substrate, the supporting PMMA film is removed by organic solvents. Hence, the potential of using the same PMMA layer as a resist mask remains unexplored. Since PMMA is an electron beam resist, the same polymer film can be useful both for transferring and for patterning of graphene. In this work, we demonstrate simultaneous transfer and patterning of graphene by using the same PMMA film. With our demonstrated method, we are able to receive sub-micron resolution very easily. The graphene transfer and its subsequent patterning with the same resist layer may help developing device applications based on graphene and other 2D materials in the near future. Published by AIP Publishing.