CNT based nanolithography and tunable graphene oxidation

Li-shan Weng, Purdue University

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene are novel carbon materials which possess numerous unique electrical and physical properties to be explored and utilized. In this work I explore a recently developed lithographical technique, AFM local anodic oxidation (LAO) nanolithography, in conjunction with CNT and graphene. This lithography has the ability to fabricate devices at nanometer scale, as well as the ability for in-situ examination and post-lithography repair of the fabricated structures. CNT based nanolithography As an effective application, a CNT can be attached to a conventional AFM probe and perform oxidation nanolithography. CNT AFM probes are commercially available, with most of the research work contributed to imaging, and very few on the nanolithography area. To utilize CNT probes as lithography a tool, we tested the oxidation parameters to have optimal performance and investigate the durability of the CNT under the lithographic condition. Nanolithography of graphene Since single layer graphene was first isolated, we see many efforts devoted to the development of graphene electronics. There are two immediate challenges to this aspect. First, production of high quality large scale graphene has not been demonstrated yet. Second, individual features in graphene devices need to be controlled accurately enough to provide sufficient reproducibility in their properties. For the second challenge, LAO offers the ultimate solution to make proof of concept nanodevices. In this work, we have demonstrated graphene nanodevices fabricated using LAO technique. Tunable graphene oxidation Many research interests have focused recently on graphene oxide, because it may be a possible intermediate material for the large-scale production and manipulation of graphene. It is found that graphene oxide can be reduced to disordered graphene by de-oxidation methods. Instead of different degree of de-oxidation, here we present a controllable oxidation of graphene lithography at a local scale. One can imagine making a graphene circuitry with desired area to be semiconducting via local oxidation process, leaving pristine graphene areas as highly conducting regions.

Degree

M.S.

Advisors

Ye, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Electrical engineering|Nanotechnology|Materials science

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