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Graphene interconnects have been projected to out-perform Copper interconnects in the next generation Magnetic Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (MQCA) based nano-electronic applications. In this paper a simple two-step lithography process for patterning CVD monolayer graphene on SiO 2 /Si substrate has been used that resulted in the current density of one order higher magnitude as compared to the state-of-the-art graphene-based interconnects. Electrical performances of the fabricated graphene interconnects were evaluated, and the impact of temperature and size on the current density and reliability was investigated. The maximum current density of 1.18 ×10 8 A/cm 2 was observed for 0.3 μm graphene interconnect on SiO 2 /Si substrate, which is about two orders and one order higher than that of conventionally used copper interconnects and CVD grown graphene respectively, thus demonstrating huge potential in outperforming copper wires for on-chip clocking. The drop in current at 473 K as compared to room temperature was found to be nearly 30%, indicating a positive temperature coefficient of resistivity (TCR). TCR for all cases were studied and it was found that with decrease in width, the sensitivity of temperature also reduces. The effect of resistivity on the breakdown current density was analysed on the experimental data using Matlab and found to follow the power-law equations. The breakdown current density was found to have a reciprocal relationship to graphene interconnect resistivity suggesting Joule heating as the likely mechanism of breakdown.

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The present study investigates the self healing behavior of both pristine and defected single layer graphene using a molecular dynamic simulation. Single layer graphene containing various defects such as preexisting vacancies and differently oriented pre-existing cracks were subjected to uniaxial tensile loading till fracture occurred. Once the load was relaxed, the graphene was found to undergo self healing. It was observed that this self healing behaviour of cracks holds irrespective of the nature of pre-existing defects in the graphene sheet. Cracks of any length were found to heal provided the critical crack opening distance lies within 0.3-0.5 nm for a pristine sheet and also for a sheet with pre-existing defects. Detailed bond length analysis of the graphene sheet was done to understand the mechanism of self healing of graphene. The paper also discusses the immense potential of the self healing phenomena of graphene in the field of graphene based sub-nano sensors for crack sensing.

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