One-step process grows and transfers graphene onto silicon

The development, from a team of researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS), led by Prof Loh Kian Ping, could lead to the use of graphene in high-value applications that are currently not technologically feasible.

This breakthrough, inspired by how beetles and tree frogs keep their feet attached to submerged leaves, is claimed to be the first published technique that accomplishes the growth and transfer steps of graphene on a silicon wafer.

This technique enables the technological application of graphene in photonics and electronics, for devices such as optoelectronic modulators, transistors, on-chip biosensors and tunnelling barriers.

The innovation was first published online in Nature.

Graphene has favourable electronic, optical and mechanical properties, as well as its use as transparent conductive films for touch screen panels of electrodes. The production of high quality wafer-scale graphene films is beset by many challenges, among which is the absence of a technique to grow and transfer graphene with minimal defects for use in semiconductor industries.