Wafer-scale growth of single-crystal monolayer graphene on reusable hydrogen-terminated germanium.

Lee, Jae-Hyun; Lee, Eun Kyung; Joo, Won-Jae; Jang, Yamujin; Kim, Byung-Sung; Lim, Jae Young; Choi, Soon-Hyung; Ahn, Sung Joon et al. · Science · 2014

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

The uniform growth of single-crystal graphene over wafer-scale areas remains a challenge in the commercial-level manufacturability of various electronic, photonic, mechanical, and other devices based on graphene. Here, we describe wafer-scale growth of wrinkle-free single-crystal monolayer graphene on silicon wafer using a hydrogen-terminated germanium buffer layer. The anisotropic twofold symmetry of the germanium (110) surface allowed unidirectional alignment of multiple seeds, which were merged to uniform single-crystal graphene with predefined orientation. Furthermore, the weak interaction between graphene and underlying hydrogen-terminated germanium surface enabled the facile etch-free dry transfer of graphene and the recycling of the germanium substrate for continual graphene growth.