Graphene Fabrication Process and Apparatus Development

The road to graphene based electronics as identified in the 2007 ITRS road map hinges on the ability to grow electronically single sheet graphene over large areas with high uniformity. Graphene Works in collaboration with the Georgia Institute of Technology has pioneered the growth and characterization of high quality graphene films grown on both polar faces of SiC. Under this STTR, this partnership will demonstrate the growth of high quality graphene films on SiC that have the electronic properties of a single graphene sheet. These films will be produced in a proprietary furnace method that is expected to scale to 5cm diameter SiC wafers by the end of this research effort. High mobility graphene samples (>10^5 cm^2/Vs) will be produced by this method on both standard and preprocessed SiC substrates. BENEFIT: The high quality samples produced in this project are expected to set the standards for epitaxial graphene on SiC. The availability of these samples will allow academic as well as industrial R&D research projects to rapidly advance graphene electronics devices. Furthermore, the experience gained in this phase of graphene production will allow Graphene Works to begin scaling epitaxial graphene on SiC to the industrial scale needed for post CMOS electronics. These graphene based device platforms are expected to lead very rapidly to terahertz switches that will have immediate military value; consumer application will follow. Through Graphene Works, graphene based device platforms can be introduced to the academic and industrial community for further testing and development. This will ensure US industries leading role in this important new field.)