Focused electron beam based direct-write fabrication of graphene and amorphous carbon from oxo-functionalized graphene on silicon dioxide

Abstract

Controlled patterning of graphene is an important task towards device fabrication and thus is the focus of current research activities. Graphene oxide (GO) is a solution-processible precursor of graphene. It can be patterned by thermal processing. However, thermal processing of GO leads to decomposition and CO₂ formation. Alternatively, focused electron beam induced processing (FEBIP) techniques can be used to pattern graphene with high spatial resolution. Based on this approach, we explore FEBIP of GO deposited on SiO₂. Using oxo-functionalized graphene (oxo-G) with an in-plane lattice defect density of 1% we are able to image the electron beam-induced effects by scanning Raman microscopy for the first time. Depending on electron energy (2–30 keV) and doses (50–800 mC m⁻²) either reduction of GO or formation of permanent lattice defects occurs. This result reflects a step towards controlled FEBIP processing of oxo-G.