METHOD FOR FORMING NANO-GAPS IN GRAPHENE

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for forming nano-gaps in graphene. The method may include applying a voltage across a region of graphene such that a nano-gap which extends across the entire width of the graphene is formed, wherein the region across which the voltage is applied may include a point which is the narrowest in the region.

Claims

1. A method for forming nano-gaps in graphene, said method comprising applying a voltage across a region of graphene such that a nano-gap which extends across the entire width of the graphene is formed, wherein the region across which the voltage is applied comprises a point which is the narrowest in said region.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said graphene is single layer graphene (SLG).

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 comprising: (a) increasing the voltage while recording the current; (b) decreasing the voltage when said current drops; and repeating steps (a) and (b) until said nano-gap has formed.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 comprising: (a) increasing the current while recording the voltage; (b) decreasing the current when said voltage rises; and repeating steps (a) and (b) until a gap has formed.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the width of the nano-gap is determined by analyzing an measurement.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein changes in the conductance are used to determine the onset of gap formation.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the width of the nano-gap is 0.1 to 5 nm, preferably 0.5 to 2.5 nm, particularly 1 to 2 nm.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the graphene is CVD-grown graphene.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein, prior to application of the voltage, the graphene is in the foiiii of a ribbon comprising a notch.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein, prior to application of the voltage, the graphene is shaped lithographically.

11. A graphene structure comprising a nano-gap (e.g. a gap of 0.1 to 5 nm, especially preferably 0.5 to 2.5 nm, particularly 1 to 2 nm) wherein said structure is obtained or obtainable by the method of claim 1.

12. A graphene structure comprising a nano-gap, e.g. a gap of 0.1 to 5 nm, especially preferably 0.5 to 2.5 nm, particularly 1 to 2 nm.

13. The graphene structure of claim 11 wherein said structure is selected from graphene comprising a nano-gap, a graphene sheet comprising a nano-gap extending across the width of the sheet, a pair of graphene sheets separated by a nano-gap, graphene electrodes separated by a nano-gap and a graphene nano-gap array.

14. A device, e.g. an electronic and/or molecular device or electronic circuit, comprising a graphene structure as claimed in claim 11.

15. Use of a graphene structure as claimed in claim 11 in a device, especially an electronic and/or molecular device, or electronic circuit.

16. A method of detecting or characterizing a molecule in a sample, said method comprising contacting said sample with a graphene structure comprising a nano-gap as claimed in claim 11 and detecting or measuring a change in voltage or a tunnelling current across the gap, wherein detection of a change in voltage or a tunnelling current indicates the presence of a molecule in the sample or enables the characteristics of the molecule to be determined.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16 wherein said molecule is a macromolecule.

18. The method as claimed in claim 16 wherein said molecule is DNA or RNA.

19. The method as claimed in claim 16 wherein the molecule is characterized by changes in voltage or current as the molecule passes through the nano-gap.

Description

[0065] The invention will now be further described in the following non-limiting Examples and with reference to the Figures:

[0066] FIG. 1:(a)-(d) show schematics for the process flow of device fabrication according to the invention. FIG. 1(e) shows a scanning electron micrograph of a single layer graphene (SLG) notched ribbon between two Cr/Au contacts produced according to the invention. FIG. 1(f) shows current-voltage (I-V) traces recorded during the feedback-controlled electroburning step.

[0067] FIG. 2: Typical I-V trace of a SLG nano-gap. The I-V trace was fitted to the Simmons model for tunnelling through a trapezoidal barrierwith the fitting parameters: barrier height =0.26 eV; barrier width (gap-size) d=1.500.03 nm; and barrier asymmetry =0.89 0.05. A fit to the Simmons model of 328 devices yields an average gap-size of 0.5-2.5 for 96.5% .

[0068] FIG. 3:(a,b) shows AFM images of a typical graphene nano-gap after the electroburning process. Light areas are graphene and dark areas are the SiO.sub.2 substrate. A gap can be clearly discerned in the narrowest part of the notch. Close to the notch, the graphene flake is free of residual resist due to current annealing. 3(c) shows calculated current density profile for a pristine device. The thick solid lines indicate the edges of the device, the narrow stream lines illustrate the current flow. 3(d) shows calculated current density profile in the case of a partially formed nano-gap. The current flows around the cracks extending inwards from the notch apex resulting in a hotspot at the crack-tip.

[0069] FIG. 4: Use of graphene electrode in method for DNA sequencing.

[0070] FIG. 5: Examples of geometries for graphene sheet(s) prior to gap formation.

[0071] FIG. 6: Current-voltage (I-V) traces of feedback-controlled electroburning. (a) The first voltage ramp shows a distinct bump attributed to current annealing of the graphene sheet. (b-c) After the initial current annealing the conductance decreases after each voltage ramp. (c) The I-V traces eventually become non-Ohmic. (d) Just before breaking there is a sharp jump in the current.

[0072] FIG. 7: Single-molecule transistor based on self-alignment of a zinc-porphyrin molecule with graphene nano-electrodes.

[0073] a) Chemical structure of the molecular wire with a zinc-porphyrin backbone (black), butterfly anchor groups (green, i.e. tetrabenzofluorene) and lipophilic side groups (red, i.e. containing Si). The functional groups allow for a robust, self-aligning mechanism.

[0074] b) Schematic of the single-molecule transistor. A heavily doped silicon chip with a 300 nm silicon oxide layer is used as a back gate to modulate charge transport through the device.

[0075] c) DFT simulations of LDOS for HOMO and LUMO iso-surfaces.

[0076] d) Typical room temperature current-voltage (I-V) traces before (green and blue, i.e. the middle and lower trace on the right of the plot) and after (red, i.e. the upper trace on the right of the plot) depositing molecules. The observed increase in current and noise after exposing the nano-gaps to the porphyrin solution is representative for all devices measured. The device was measured twice after exposing it to pure chloroform (green and blue, as above) to ensure that the nano-gaps did not change before exposing it to the porphyrin solution.

[0077] FIG. 8: Stability diagram of ten single-molecule transistors of Example 5. The source-drain current I as a function of source-drain bias V.sub.b and gate voltage V.sub.g. All devices shown are in the weak-coupling regime where the current IpAnA, meaning that an electron tunnels from the source electrode to the molecule, and then on to the drain, in a sequential process. Sequential electron tunnelling leads to diamond shaped regions where charge transport is Coulomb blocked.

EXAMPLE 1

Preparation of Device Containing Notched Ribbons of Graphene

[0078] Graphene devices were fabricated using a passive-first active-last process flow, where the graphene is transferred onto a pre-patterned silicon chip as illustrated in FIGS. 1(a-d). Such a passive-first active-last fabrication process enables integration of graphene into conventional silicon logic circuits.

[0079] Single layer graphene (SLG) was prepared using a 1:4 CH.sub.4:Ar gas mixture at atmospheric pressure on liquid copper in a CVD furnace at 1090 C. to form a SLG/copper stack. This method can produce large area single layer graphene. PMMA (poly methyl methacrylate) was spun across the SLG/copper stack before etching the copper away with a 0.1M solution of ammonium persulfate to produce a PMMA/SLG stack. The PMMA/graphene stack was rinsed in deionised water before being transferred onto a pre-patterned 11 cm.sup.2 Si/SiO.sub.2 chip (FIG. 1(a-b)). Each chip contained 540 pairs of Cr/Au electrodes that were patterned using electron beam lithography and metal evaporation. After the SLG was transferred onto the metal electrodes, it was patterned into notched ribbons by exposing a negative resist using electron beam lithography followed by oxygen plasma etching (FIG. 1(c-d)). The devices were then annealed at 350 C. for 1 hour in an Ar atmosphere to remove residual resist. FIG. 1(e) shows a scanning electron micrograph of a resulting SLG notched ribbon between two Cr/Au electrodes.

EXAMPLE 2

Electroburning of Notched Graphene Ribbon to Form Nano-Gap

[0080] Feedback-controlled electroburning was performed on the devices fabricated in Example 1 in air at room temperature using an automated probe-station. The electroburning process comprised application of a voltage (V) across the devices which was ramped up at a rate of 0.75 V/s, while the current (I) was recorded with a 200 s sampling rate. When the feedback condition (which was set at a drop /set of the current within the past 15 mV) was met, the voltage was ramped down to zero at a rate of 225 V/s. After each voltage ramp the resistance of the SLG device was measured and the process was repeated until the low-bias resistance exceeded R.sub.set (e.g. 500 M, which is 50 times higher than the resistance of one open transport channel). To prevent the SLG device from electroburning too abruptly at the initial voltage ramps, the feedback condition was adjusted for each voltage ramp depending on the threshold voltage Vth at which the previous current drop occurred. The feedback conditions used were /.sub.set=6, 9, 12 and 15 A for Vth1.6, 1.3 and 1.0 V respectively.

[0081] A typical evolution of the current-voltage (I-V) traces from Example 2 is shown in FIG. 1(f). The first voltage ramp (grey trace in FIG. 1(f)) shows a distinct region of negative differential conductance (NDC). Regions of NDC or kinks in the I-V characteristics of single layer graphene devices are a characteristic feature of bipolar transport in single layer graphene. Typically, graphene on SiO.sub.2 is p-doped, with holes being the majority carriers throughout the entire channel. When the source-drain voltage V is increased, the current starts to saturate as the electrochemical potential at the drain end of the channel moves towards the Dirac point. At a particular voltage Vkink, the electrochemical potential at the drain end corresponds to the Dirac point resulting in a pinch-off at the drain contact. By increasing V beyond Vkink the pinch-off is moved through the channel until the entire channel switches to electron carriers and the current will increase again. The value for Vkink is dependent on the relative position of the Fermi level from the Dirac point for the graphene electrodes, and is therefore dependent on the doping level. The observed a shift of Vkink towards lower source-drain voltages with each electroburning voltage ramp event may be attributed to the removal of residual resist from current annealing. The removal of residual resist shifts the Fermi level closer towards the Dirac point which corresponds to the shift of Vkink towards lower voltages. This increase in conductance has previously been observed in electroburning of few-layer graphene flakes and is attributed to the removal of residual resist by Joule heating of the graphene. From the AFM image of the device in FIG. 3, it can be observed that close to the notched region, the graphene is much cleaner compared to regions further away. This is an indication of residual resist removal from current annealing during the electroburning process.

EXAMPLE 3

Characterisation of Nano-Gaps via I-V Curves

[0082] The geometry of the nano-gaps formed in Example 2 was characterized by measuring the current-voltage curves using the same set-up used for the feedback controlled electroburning in Example 2. FIG. 2 shows a typical I-V trace of a SLG nano-gap after completion of the electroburning process, i.e. after the low-bias resistance becomes larger than Rset. The non-Ohmic I-V traces measured after the electroburning process are characteristic of transport through a single tunnel junction. The size of the tunnel-barrier can be estimated by fitting the I-V traces to the Simmons model using the barrier height, width and asymmetry as fitting parameters. The controllability and reproducibility of the nano-gap fabrication process were investigated by fitting 328 devices to the Simmons model. The average gap-size of 156 devices that underwent the electroburning process with a stop condition R.sub.crit=300 Mwas d=1.450.58 nm. For the 172 devices that were processed with a stop condition R.sub.crit=500 M, the gap-size was d=1.380.46 nm. 96.5% of 328 devices fitted return a gap-size within the range of 0.5-2.5 nm, which make these graphene nano-gaps appealing for contacting single molecules in molecular devices. The average fitted barrier heights was 0.240.10 eV. These compare with barrier heights observed in electroburned few-layer graphene nano-gaps and in electromigrated metal electrodes.

[0083] Table 1 gives an overview of the success rate of the electroburning process for a total number of 1079 devices on 5 chips. Three ways in which the electroburning process can fail have been identified: i) the current required to start the electroburning process is larger than the maximum current supplied by the voltage source used; ii) the feedback-control did not ramp the voltage back to zero fast enough, resulting in a nano-gap with an infinite resistance (>100 G); iii) the feedback-control is too sensitive and ramps the voltage before electroburning occurs. Whereas the second and third failures are intrinsic to the feedback-controlled electroburning process, the first failure occurs if the lithographically defined notch is too wide. Because the first failure is not intrinsic to the electroburning process and could be overcome by using a different voltage source, the yield of the electroburning process has been defined by only considering those devices where the threshold current is within the range of our set-up. Using this definition, the yield of the electroburning process is 85%.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Fabrication yield of the feedback-controlled electroburning process: Number of devices Devices before electroburning 1079 Threshold current too high 167 Feedback not fast enough 67 Feedback too sensitive 69 Nano-gaps after electroburning 776

EXAMPLE 4

Further Characterisation of Nano-gaps Using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)

[0084] To further investigate the formation of the nano-gaps, AFM was perform ed on several devices prepared according to Examples 1 and 2 after the electroburning process. FIG. 3(a,b) shows an AFM image of an electroburned nano-gap. The AFM images show that the nano-g a p forms at the narrowest part of the notch. Without wishing to be bound by theory, this is thought to be due to the fact that the current density, and therefore the Joule heating, will be largest at this point. The breakdown current was determined as the current at which the feedback condition is met for the first voltage ramp. The breakdown current for the device shown in FIG. 3(a,b) is 310 A, which corresponds to a current density j=4.710.sup.8 A/cm.sup.2 (assuming a van der Waals thickness of 0.355 nm as sheet thickness). Breakdown current densities of j=510.sup.8 A/cm.sup.2 have been reported for mechanically exfoliated SLG. For 1079 devices, an average breakdown current of 324 163 pA was found.

[0085] The formation of the nano-gaps is expected to be mediated by the breaking of carbon bonds at the graphene edges because of the higher reactivity of the edge-carbon atoms due to incomplete sp.sup.2-hybridization. Thus, a gradual narrowing of the entire notch region could be expected. Surprisingly, the nano-gap formation process of the present invention proceeds via a crack developing across the narrowest region of the notch (see FIG. 3(d)).

[0086] Nano-gap formation was further investigated by calculating the current density profile in the graphene notch. To calculate the current density (j(r)=(r), where (r) is the charge density) as function of position r, the Laplace equation .sup.2(r)=0 was solved using conformal mapping. The current density was highest at the apex of the notch (see FIG. 3(c)), which is where the formation of the nano-gap was observed experimentally. FIG. 3(d) shows the current flow around a crack extending from the apex of each notch, which was calculated using a Schwarz transformation. Since the current is forced to flow around the cracks, the current density is highest at the crack-tip. This may explain why, once a crack forms at the apex of the notch, it propagates through the material in accordance with our observations, rather than becoming wider. It also explains why the asymmetrical notch geometries in FIG. 5 can be used to grow a crack from a notch towards the other edge of the graphene ribbon. The calculations and experimental findings therefore demonstrate the ability to lithographically control the position of the nano-gaps, which allows for the precise alignment of the nano-gaps with other lithographically defined structures.

EXAMPLE 5

Single Molecule Transistor Based on Self-Alignment of a Zinc-Porphyrin Molecule with Graphene Nano-Electrodes

[0087] Charge transport through individual molecules in a graphene-molecule-graphene junction, which works as a single-electron transistor (SET), was studied. A molecular wire, shown in FIG. 7a, consisting of a zinc-porphyrin back-bone (black in FIG. 7a) with tetrabenzofluorene anchors (green in FIG. 7a) was used. These butterfly limpet anchor groups have not previously been used in single-molecule devices. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations shown in FIG. 7b revealed that the molecular wires relaxes across the graphene nano-gap in a planar geometry. DFT calculations further indicate that the wave-functions of the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) are delocalised over the porphyrin backbone and anchor groups, in contrast to the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) where they are only localised over the porphyrin backbone as shown in FIG. 7c. Overlap between the delocalised electron wave-functions of the fully conjugated zinc-porphyrin system with the butterfly anchors allows for electron transport through the wire. The molecular backbone is separated from the butterfly anchor groups by a CCCH.sub.2 spacer (blue, -- in FIG. 7a), which allows the anchor groups to bind to the defect-free graphene rather than to the graphene edges. In addition to the butterfly limpets, the molecule has two hydrophobic side-groups (red, i.e. containing Si, in FIG. 7a). The side-groups make the molecular wire more soluble and prevent the central porphyrin from binding to the graphene electrodes. The graphene electrodes were fabricated using feedback-controlled electroburning as in Examples 1 and 2 and were typically separated by a 1-2 nm nano-gap. The chemical potential of the molecular wire was electrostatically tuned using the conducting silicon substrate as a back-gate (see FIG. 7b), which was separated from the molecule and graphene electrodes by a 300 nm thick silicon-oxide layer, resulting in a SET device geometry.

[0088] First, reproducible single-electron transport through individual molecules was demonstrated and that single electron charging is determined by the molecule rather than the microscopic details of the electrodes was shown. Reproducible SET behavior was measured at 20 mK in 10 out of 48 devices on which the molecular wire described above was deposited, as shown in FIG. 8. It was found that for all devices, E.sub.add=0.370:05 eV for the Coulomb diamond closest to equilibrium (zero gate voltage). In a control experiment, the same molecular backbone without the butterfly anchor groups was deposited and the results suggested that the molecules best bridge the gap when the anchor groups are present. The result in the control experiment implies that the SET behaviour of the 10 devices initially tested was due to one or more molecular wires bridging the nano-gap. Moreover, the control experiment allowed the exclusion of carbon islands left over from an incomplete electroburning process as a possible source of the observed SET behaviour. Due to the stochastic nature of the electroburning process, island sizes are expected to differ for each device, which would result in varying addition energies for all devices. Similarly, clusters of two or more molecules would result in variations of the addition energy. Based on the device statistics it was concluded that the measured SET behaviour of the devices shown in FIG. 7 was the result of charge transport through nominally identical single-molecule transistors. The experiment therefore shows the reproducibility of the nano-gap formation.

[0089] The horizontal axes in FIG. 8 are scaled by an effective lever arm a for comparison. This lever arm is a measure of the capacitive coupling between the gate and the molecule and differs from device to device. It was determined that =0.0060.04 from the slopes of the Coulomb diamonds for each single molecule transistor presented in FIG. 8.

[0090] The small values of a indicate that the total capacitance is dominated by the source and drain electrodes, and is consistent with electrostatic calculations. The variation in a can be attributed to differences in screening of the gate-field by the source and drain electrodes. The gate voltage to align the electrochemical potential of the electrodes within the Dirac point is greater than 40 V, thus giving an upper limit to the shift in the electrochemical potential of the electrodes as less than half the change in the potential of the molecule deduced from the slope of the Coulomb diamonds. Variations in the current through different devices may be attributed to differences in overlap between the anchor groups and the graphene electrodes.

[0091] It was shown that the molecules were well centered between the source and drain electrode, i.e. well-aligned in the nano-gap. The experiments demonstrate room-temperature charge- and energy-quantization in a reproducible graphene-molecule-graphene device geometry. The modular design of the molecular wire makes this approach applicable to a wide variety of molecular backbones. Specifically, the - anchoring of the molecule to the highly stable graphene nano-electrodes allows high-bias energy spectroscopy of the excited states and removes the need for statistical analysis of ensemble measurements. The findings offer a route to a vast number of quantum transport experiments that are well established for semiconductor quantum dots, but at an energy-scale larger than kT at room temperature.