Improved Graphene Blisters by Ultrahigh Pressure Sealing

Abstract

We report the diffusion of air from pressurized graphene drumheads and propose a method to improve the already ultrastrong adhesion between graphene and the underlying SiO2 substrate. This is carried out by applying controlled and localized ultrahigh pressure (> 10 GPa) with an Atomic Force Microscopy diamond tip. With this procedure, we are able to significantly approach the graphene to the surface around the drumheads, allowing us to better seal the graphene-SiO2 interface, which is reflected in a drop of the leakage time in a factor of 4. An additional implication of our work is that gas flow through the graphene-SiO2 interface contributes significantly to the total leak rate. Our work opens a way to improve the performance of graphene as a gas membrane.

Self-Sealing Complex Oxide Resonators

“…High hermeticities were obtained in exfoliated single layer graphene membranes in references, , which would make them a great candidate for future sensing devices if they can be produced with high yield and reproducibility. Previous works have shown that the hermeticity may be improved by, for example, ironing with a diamond atomic force microscopy (AFM) tip or electron-beam induced deposition of SiO 2 . Unfortunately, neither methods are scalable, since they are too slow to apply over large areas.…”

“…For a reliable pressure sensor, hermeticity of the cavity underneath the membrane is essential. However, gas permeation along the interface between the vdW membrane and the substrate causes pressure variations in the reference cavity, which renders the pressure readings from graphene-based pressure sensors unreliable. , …”

“…However, gas permeation along the interface between the vdW membrane and the substrate causes pressure variations in the reference cavity, which renders the pressure readings from graphene-based pressure sensors unreliable. 11,12 Recently reported sealing protocols have enabled improvements in the hermeticity of vdW material membranes of up to a factor 10 000, 11,12 but scaling them to high volume production is difficult, since depositing and patterning of sealing layers on top of ultrathin vdW material membranes is often detrimental to device performance in particular if high temperatures are needed. Moreover, the pressure at which the sealing layer is deposited is often fixed by the process, such that the reference pressure in the cavity cannot be freely controlled.…”

The effect of rippling on the mechanical properties of graphene

“…Then we performed indentation experiments on these bulged drumheads. The sealing of these micro-chambers was not perfect and the pressure inside tended to equal that of the surrounding atmosphere 40,41 . Taking advantage of this, we introduced pressure on the chamber and made topographies and indentation curves as a function of time.…”

Determining the interlayer shearing in twisted bilayer MoS2 by nanoindentation

“…In 2D layered systems, the overall robustness is determined by the interlayer mechanical interaction rather than the mechanical strength of each individual layer, as the interlayer vdW forces are much weaker than the intralayer chemical bonding forces 15 . Unfortunately, current methods of measuring interlayer interactions of 2D materials, including the pressurized bubbling method 16 – 19 , tip-based adhesion force measurement 20 – 22 , and nanoindentation 23 – 28 , have certain limitations when probing the twist-angle-dependent interlayer interaction of 2D materials in monolayer limits. For instance, pressurized bubbling tests require the ultimate gas impermeability of detected materials to determine their interlayer shear stresses, and thus, the detected materials are usually limited to graphene 16 – 18 .…”