Researchers have discovered a novel approach to developing graphene that has potential in photonics, optoelectronics and electronics applications, specifically data communications.
Graphene is a two-dimensional atomic crystal made up of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice. Due to its unique combination of superior properties, graphene is a credible starting point for new disruptive technologies across a wide range of fields.
Typically, polycrystalline graphene is used in applications which need to be integrated over wafer scale, however, this material presents grain boundaries between the different crystals that lower the exceptional electrical properties that have been measured in the exfoliated single crystals that made graphene famous.
The method—developed by Graphene Flagship researchers Camilla Coletti from Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) and Marco Romagnoli from Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Telecomunicazioni (CNIT) both working in Italy—is designed to grow single graphene crystals by chemical vapor deposition on copper “seeds” deposited using optical lithography.
It results in graphene that is more mobile than graphene grown in a continuous film and also exhibits electric properties that are comparable to those achieved from pristine graphene exfoliated from flakes.
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