Production technique enables large scale graphene

Manufacturing graphene in quantity is becoming an issue for industry. While the material was in the R&D phase, producing small amounts was not difficult, but as the single-layer carbon material becomes more accepted in various sectors, production methods are lacking.

German-based technology company Aixtron has now launched systems designed to produce graphene coatings over large areas at a high rate for low costs, and claims that its system can produce 20,000 m² of graphene per year – some 200 times higher than existing production techniques.

Aixtron is a partner of the European Graphene Flagship, a European Commission-funded research, innovation and collaboration organisation set up as a FET (Future Emerging Technologies) initiative. These are intended to accelerate development and implementation of technologies in targeted areas, which include quantum computing and analysing data gathered from studies of the human brain. In total, these three FET Flagships have a €1bn budget.

The company has unveiled two new systems: Neutron and CCS 2D. The former is a roll-to roll system capable of depositing large areas of graphene onto metal foils under ambient conditions; while the latter enables wafer-scale production of graphene on insulating wafers, which Aixtron claims is a breakthrough that will speed up development of new graphene electronics.