Hydrogen etch resistance of aluminium oxide passivated graphitic layers

Seda Kizir*, Wesley T.E. van den Beld, Jort D. Verbakel, Roman Pushkarev, Zomer S. Houweling, Robbert W.E. van de Kruijs, Jos P.H. Benschop, Fred Bijkerk

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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Abstract

Graphene inherently possesses defect sites and grain boundaries that are vulnerable to chemical etching by hydrogen radicals. In this study, an etch-mitigation method is presented to selectively passivate these sites using atomic layer deposition (ALD) of a H etch-resistant material. First, as a reference experiment, pristine exfoliated graphitic layers are exposed to H radicals to determine the lateral etch rate from defect sites. Next, these samples are compared to graphitic layers in which the defects are selectively passivated by Al2O3, in the same exposure conditions, using atomic force microscopy at every step in the experiment. The results show that etching is slowed down by local deposition of Al2O3 ALD at sites vulnerable to H radical etching.

Original languageEnglish
Article number505304
JournalJournal of physics D: applied physics
Volume54
Issue number50
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 16 Dec 2021

Keywords

  • AlO
  • ALD
  • Etching
  • Grapheme
  • HOPG
  • Hydrogen radical
  • UT-Hybrid-D

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