Integrating graphene into semiconductor fabrication lines

Abstract

Electronic and photonic devices based on the two-dimensional material graphene have unique properties, leading to outstanding performance figures-of-merit. Mastering the integration of this new and unconventional material into an established semiconductor fabrication line represents a critical step for pushing it forward towards commercialization.Silicon has remained the dominating material in microelectronics for more than five decades. Although many semiconductors like Ge, GaAs or InP possess higher charge carrier mobilities, favourable optical properties or other advantages compared to silicon, the simpler production and processing of the latter make it by far the most convenient and cost effective material for large markets.

Graphene ribbons with suspended masses as transducers in ultra-small nanoelectromechanical accelerometers

“…For the same device, different proof mass deflections were measured for identical accelerations but different excitation frequencies ( Fig. 4e, Supplementary Section S19, Table S13 and LDV measurements indicate that the effective acceleration acting on the proof mass may be significantly higher than the 1 g acceleration measured by the reference accelerometer of the 16 shaker. Such an effect can be caused by vibration modes of parts that do not belong to the spring-mass system of the device, including parts of the package, measurement set-up or readout circuitry.…”

“…Furthermore, we find that the graphene ribbons have significant built-in stresses, which have a tangible influence on the static and dynamic characteristics of the devices, consistent with work on the effects of built-in stress in graphene ribbons and membranes 7,10,14,15 . Our graphene NEMS transducers are compatible with large-scale semiconductor fabrication technologies 16 and could be used to create ultra- 4 miniaturized NEMS accelerometers, gyroscopes and microphones, for potential applications in biomedical implants, nanoscale robotics, vehicle safety systems, consumer electronics, wearable electronics and the IoT.…”

Electron Transport across Vertical Silicon/MoS2/Graphene Heterostructures: Towards Efficient Emitter Diodes for Graphene Base Hot Electron Transistors

“…After dicing the wafers into small chips (1.5 cm x 1.5 cm) and performing a standard cleaning procedure, photolithography was used to define larger windows covering the Si active areas. Then, native oxide was removed from the active areas using etching transfer technique 28,29 . Afterwards, the SLG was patterned using a step of photolithography followed by reactive ion etching (RIE) in oxygen plasma.…”

Suspended Graphene Membranes with Attached Silicon Proof Masses as Piezoresistive Nanoelectromechanical Systems Accelerometers

“…8,9 At the same time, graphene technology is maturing and generally compatible with silicon semiconductor fabrication lines. 10 Therefore, graphene is an extremely interesting functional material for ultra-small nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS) devices. 8,[11][12][13][14][15] Suspended atomically thin graphene structures that include doubly-clamped graphene beams, fully clamped graphene membranes and graphene cantilevers have been extensively studied and 3 have been utilized in electromechanical resonators, [16][17][18][19][20] various types of pressure sensors, 9,[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] strain sensors, 29,30 high responsivity photodetectors, 31 NEMS switches, 32 earphones, 33 loudspeakers, 34 microphones 35,36 and other NEMS devices.…”