Large-scale nanoelectromechanical switches based on directly deposited nanocrystalline graphene on insulating substrates

Abstract

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 ∼10⁵.