The direct growth of graphene on insulating substrate is highly desirable for the commercial scale integration of graphene due to the potential lower cost and better process control. We report a simple, direct deposition of nanocrystalline graphene (NCG) on insulating substrates via catalyst-free plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition at relatively low temperature of ∼800 °C. The parametric study of the process conditions that we conducted reveals the deposition mechanism and allows us to grow high quality films. Based on such film, we demonstrate the fabrication of a large-scale array of nanoelectromechanical (NEM) switches using regular thin film process techniques, with no transfer required. Thanks to ultra-low thickness, good uniformity, and high Young's modulus of ∼0.86 TPa, NCG is considered as a promising material for high performance NEM devices. The high performance is highlighted for the NCG switches, e.g. low pull-in voltage <3 V, reversible operations, minimal leakage current of ∼1 pA, and high on/off ratio of ∼10(5).

Graphene nanomesh (GNM) is formed by patterning graphene with nanometer-scale pores separated by narrow necks. GNMs are of interest due to their potential semiconducting characteristics when quantum confinement in the necks leads to an energy gap opening. GNMs also have potential for use in phonon control and water filtration. Furthermore, physical phenomena, such as spin qubit, are predicted at pitches below 10 nm fabricated with precise structural control. Current GNM patterning techniques suffer from either large dimensions or a lack of structural control. This work establishes reliable GNM patterning with a sub-10 nm pitch and an < 4 nm pore diameter by the direct helium ion beam milling of suspended monolayer graphene. Due to the simplicity of the method, no postpatterning processing is required. Electrical transport measurements reveal an effective energy gap opening of up to ∼450 meV. The reported technique combines the highest resolution with structural control and opens a path toward GNM-based, room-temperature semiconducting applications.

This paper reports on large area, metal-free deposition of nanocrystalline graphene (NCG) directly onto wet thermally oxidized 150 mm silicon substrates using parallel-plate plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Thickness nonuniformities as low as 13% are achieved over the whole substrate. The cluster size L a of the as-obtained films is determined from Raman spectra and lies between 1.74 and 2.67 nm. The film uniformity was further confirmed by Raman mapping. The sheet resistance R sq of 3.73 Ω k and charge carrier mobility μ of − − 2.49 cm V s 2 1 1 are measured. We show that the NCG films can be readily patterned by reactive ion etching. NCG is also successfully deposited onto quartz and sapphire substrates and showed >85% optical transparency in the visible light spectrum.

This paper reports on recent improvements of the bulge and microtensile techniques for the reliable extraction of material parameters such as the Young's modulus E, Poisson's ratio ν, plane strain modulus Eps = E/(1–ν2), prestress σ0, fracture strength μ, Weibull modulus m and strain hardening coefficients n, and on the direct comparison between the two methods. The bulge technique is extended to full wafer measurements enabling throughputs of data with statistical relevance whereas key improvements of a previous fabrication process of microtensile specimens lead now to much higher yields, approaching 100%. Both techniques are applied to an extensive set of materials, brittle and ductile, typically used in MEMS applications. These include thin films of silicon nitride, silicon oxide, polycrystalline silicon and aluminum deposited by techniques such as thermal oxidation, LPCVD, PECVD and PVD.

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Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond work as a quantum electrometer. Using an ensemble state of NV centers, we propose vector electrometry and demonstrate measurements in a diamond electronic device. A transverse electric field applied to the N-V axis under a high voltage was measured while applying a transverse magnetic field. The response of the energy level shift against the electric field was significantly enhanced compared with that against an axial magnetic field. Repeating the measurement of the transverse electric field for multiple N-V axes, we obtained the components of the electric field generated in the device.