Graphene production and graphene based FET sensors

Graphene, the thinnest and the lightest sp2 carbon nanomaterial, has exhibited extraordinary properties in terms of fast electron mobility, high current density, high mechanical strength, excellent thermal conductivity, and large surface area. These characteristics make graphene an ideal nanomaterial for nanoelectronics, nanodevices, and nanocomposites. Graphene-based sensors, thus, have attracted great attention toward providing a novel sensor platform with high sensitivity. Exploring the graphene growth possibilities, a chemical vapor deposition based recipe has been optimized, making it consistent and repeatable. The growth process leads to two transfer pos- sibilities from the copper substrate to a silicon one, mediated by a PMMA solution in Anisole or by a Shellac solution in Ethanol. Each sample, both for growth and transfer stages, has been characterized with Raman Spectroscopy in order to verify the quality and defectiveness of graphene, Field Emission Scanning Microscopy to identify any unwanted residue and X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy to identify any elemental residue on the graphene surface. The results show that the graphene grown with this techniques is an high quality one, mono- layer and with a low quantity of defects. Meanwhile the described transfer processes are both suitable for graphene electronic applications, as demonstrated by the construction and electrical characterization of an Electrolyte Gated Graphene Based Transistor.