Nanoscale tunable reduction of graphene oxide for graphene electronics

Z. Wei (1) , D. Wang (2) , Suenne Kim (2) , S. Y. Kim (3) , Yike Hu (2) , M. K. Yakes (1) , A.R. Laracuente (1) , Z. Dai (4) , S.R. Marder (3) , Claire Berger (5) , W.P. King (4) , Walter A. de Heer (2) , P. E. Sheehan (1) , Elisa Riedo (2)

1 Chemistry Division
2 School of Physics
3 School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
4 Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering
5 NEEL - QuantECA - Circuits électroniques quantiques Alpes

Graphene is now recognized as the most likely carbon-based successor material for CMOS electronics. Recently, interest in graphene oxide (GO) has risen for producing large-scale flexible conductors and for its potential to open an electronic gap in graphene structures. We report on a means to tune the topographical and electrical properties of graphene-based materials with nanoscopic resolution by local thermal reduction of GO with a nano-size tip. The reduced GO nanostructures show an increase in conductivity up to four orders of magnitude as compared to pristine GO. No sign of tip wear or sample tearing was observed. Variably conductive nanoribbons with dimensions down to 12 nm have been produced in oxidized epitaxial graphene films in a single step that is clean, rapid and reliable.

Domains: Mesoscopic Systems and Quantum Hall Effect [cond-mat.mes-hall]

Z. Wei, D. Wang, Suenne Kim, S. Y. Kim, Yike Hu, et al.. Nanoscale tunable reduction of graphene oxide for graphene electronics. Science, 2010, 328 (5984), pp.1373-1376. ⟨10.1126/science.1188119⟩. ⟨hal-01003133⟩