Substrate grain size and orientation of Cu and Cu–Ni foils used for the growth of graphene films

Robinson, Zachary R.; Tyagi, Parul; Murray, Thomas M.; Ventrice, Carl A.; Chen, Shanshan; Munson, Andrew; Magnuson, Carl W.; Ruoff, Rodney S.

doi:doi:10.1116/1.3663877

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Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A / Volume 30 / Issue 1 / Surfaces

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J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 30, 011401 (2012); http://dx.doi.org/10.1116/1.3663877 (7 pages)

Substrate grain size and orientation of Cu and Cu–Ni foils used for the growth of graphene films

Zachary R. Robinson¹, Parul Tyagi¹, Thomas M. Murray¹, Carl A. Ventrice, Jr.¹, Shanshan Chen², Andrew Munson², Carl W. Magnuson², and Rodney S. Ruoff²

¹College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, University at Albany–SUNY, 257 Fuller Road, Albany, New York 12203
²Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering Program, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C2200, Austin, Texas 78712

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(Published online 2 December 2011)

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Graphene growth on Cu foils by catalytic decomposition of methane forms predominantly single-layer graphene films due to the low solubility of carbon in Cu. On the other hand, graphene growth on Cu–Ni foils can result in the controlled growth of few-layer graphene films because of the higher solubility of carbon in Ni. One of the key issues for the use of graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition for device applications is the influence of defects on the transport properties of the graphene. For instance, growth on metal foil substrates is expected to result in multidomain graphene growth because of the presence of grains within the foil that exhibit a variety of surface terminations. Therefore, the size and orientation of the grains within the metal foil should influence the defect density of the graphene. For this reason, we have studied the effect of total anneal time and temperature on the orientation and size of grains within Cu foils and Cu–Ni alloy foils with a nominal concentration of 90/10 by weight. The graphene growth procedure involves preannealing the foil in a H₂ background followed by the graphene growth in a CH₄/H₂ atmosphere. Measurements of the substrate grain size have been performed with optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. These results show typical lateral dimensions ranging from a few millimeters up to approximately a centimeter for Cu foils annealed at 1030 °C for 35 min and from tens of microns up to a few hundred microns for the 90/10 Cu–Ni foils annealed at 1050 °C for times ranging from 45 to 90 min. The smaller grains within the Cu–Ni foils are attributed to the higher melting point of the Cu–Ni alloy. The crystallographic orientation within each substrate grain was studied with electron backscatter diffraction, and shows that the preferred orientation for the Cu foil is primarily toward the (100) surface plane. For the 90/10 Cu–Ni foils, the orientation of the surface of the grains is initially toward the (110) plane and shifts into an orientation midway between the (100) and (111) planes as the anneal time is increased.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This project was supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant No. 1006350/1006411) and the Office of Naval Research. Z.R.R. would like to thank SEMATECH for financial support. In addition, S.S.C. is supported by the China Scholarship Council fellowship, and C.W.M. is supported by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development program at Sandia National Laboratories.

Article Outline

INTRODUCTION
1. Low-energy surfaces of fcc metal crystals
2. Graphene growth on Cu and Cu–Ni surfaces
EXPERIMENT
1. Growth of graphene films
2. SEM and EBSD measurements
RESULTS
1. Unannealed Cu and Cu–Ni Foils
2. Cu foil after graphene growth
3. Cu–Ni foils after graphene growth
DISCUSSION
CONCLUSIONS

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KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

annealing, catalysis, chemical vapour deposition, copper alloys, crystal defects, grain size, graphene, nickel alloys, organic compounds, semiconductor thin films

PACS

68.55.ag

Semiconductors
61.48.Gh

Structure of graphene
81.05.ue

Graphene
68.55.A-

Nucleation and growth
81.15.Gh

Chemical vapor deposition (including plasma-enhanced CVD, MOCVD, ALD, etc.)
68.55.Ln

Defects and impurities: doping, implantation, distribution, concentration, etc.

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History

Received 8 August 2011
Accepted 27 October 2011
Published online 2 December 2011

Digital Object Identifier

http://dx.doi.org/10.1116/1.3663877

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

0734-2101 (print)

1520-8559 (online)

Publisher

American Vacuum Society

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