A molecular route to functional graphene nanostructures for electronic applications

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Andrey Turchanin; Dr. Thomas Weimann
• Subject Area: Experimental Condensed Matter Physics
• Term: from 2010 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 173696206

We develop a molecular route to graphene and graphene nanostructures for electronic applications. This route is based on the modification of polycyclic aromatic self-assembled monolayers (SAM) by electron (photon)-irradiation and subsequent pyrolysis. The irradiation-induced crosslinking of aromatic SAMs results in the formation of carbon nanomembranes (CNMs) - a novel two-dimensional (2D) carbon material with molecular thickness and dielectric properties. By annealing of CNMs in vacuum or at atmospheric pressure they can be converted into graphene. Our approach makes possible both scalable production of the high-electronic-quality graphene and CNMs as well as direct writing of graphene and CNM nanostructures on various technologically relevant substrates. In the second funding period we concentrate on large area production of graphene sheets and graphene nanostructures with well-defined structural and electronic properties (crystallinity, homogeneity, number of layers, chemical doping, functionalization, electric field-effect characteristics, electron/hole mobility). We engineer functional CNM/graphene hybrids and use them for the fabrication of novel field-effect devices aiming to improve the electronic performance of the integrated graphene sheets (electric-field gating, environmental stability, mobility of the charge carriers). To achieve these goals we apply a combination of complementary state-of-the-art techniques and methods for materials processing, spectroscopy, microscopy, electric and magneto-transport measurements of 2D carbon materials. We expect that results of this project will strongly contribute to the development of materials science and applied physics of graphene, and facilitate both unique graphene-based technologies and integration of graphene into the CMOS technology.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1459: Graphen