EAGER: Templated Manufacturing of Graphene

EARLY概念探索性研究补助金（EAGER）为开发在各种基底上低温定向合成石墨烯和石墨烯纳米结构的材料和方法提供资金。 石墨烯是一种非常有前途的新型有机电子材料，其导电性远远超过当今主要的半导体材料硅。的消费电子设备。然而，目前用于石墨烯生长的高温工艺阻碍了石墨烯集成到电子器件材料和工艺中。本文提出了一种新的低温石墨烯生长方法，涉及使用芳香族石墨烯前体。将开发以良好控制的方式将这些前体沉积到表面上的方法以及将前体涂层低温转化为石墨烯的方法。 将测试三种主要方法来开发这种石墨烯前体和加工方法。 一种是基于溶液的方法，另一种依赖于表面反应层来捕获前体，第三种将探索剥离石墨烯的受控沉积。 一系列的方法将被用来表征石墨烯和石墨材料的质量和性能，从这样的过程中产生。如果成功，这项研究的结果将导致新的方法，低温沉积和形成石墨烯在各种基板上。 这项工作的主要目标是建立这种低温石墨烯形成方法的可行性，使得石墨烯可以更广泛且更容易地集成到目前高温石墨烯合成程序不切实际的各种光电应用中。 将石墨烯集成到电子器件中可以实现许多进步，包括：与CMOS集成的更好的光学探测器，更快的柔性有机电子器件，以及更快的计算机处理器，散热量更低，功耗更低。

This EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) grant provides funding for developing materials and methods for the low temperature, directed synthesis of graphene and graphene nanostructures on a variety of substrates. Graphene is a very promising new organic electronic material that can possess conductivity much greater than silicon, the primary semiconductor material in today?s consumer electronic devices. However, the high temperature processes used today for graphene growth hinder the integration of graphene into electronic device materials and processes. A novel approach for low temperature graphene growth is proposed here and involves the use of aromatic precursors for graphene. Processes for depositing those precursors in a well controlled manner onto surfaces will be developed as well as processes for the low temperature conversion of the precursor coatings to graphene. Three primary approaches will be tested for developing such graphene precursor and processing approaches. One is a solution-based approach, another relies on surface reactive layers to capture the precursors and the third will explore the controlled deposition of exfoliated graphene. A range of methods will be utilized to characterize the quality and properties of the graphene and graphitic materials that result from such processes.If successful, the results of this research will lead to new methods for the low temperature deposition and formation of graphene on a variety of substrates. The primary goal of this work is to establish the feasibility of such approaches to low temperature graphene formation, such that graphene could be more widely and easily integrated into a variety of optoelectronic applications that are currently impractical with present high temperature graphene synthesis procedures. Such integration of graphene into electronic devices could enable a number of advancements including: better optical detectors integrated with CMOS, faster flexible organic electronic devices, and faster computer processors with lower heat dissipation and lower power consumption.