Graphene CVD sheets - updates and market status - Page 14

A group of researchers from Shanghai report that Coronene can be used as nucleation seeds for graphene synthesis using a low temperature CVD process. The Coronene greatly improved the homogeneity of monolayer graphene.

The researchers say that adding Coronene to the CVD process may offer cost advantages for large scale applications, and also higher quality graphene sheets. They also expect this process to help with synthesizing graphene/copper hybrid interconnects.

The University of Manchester's National Graphene Institute recently purchased plasma etch equipment and deposition systems from Oxford Instruments.

These tools (PlasmaPro^® PECVD and ICP-CVD deposition tools and PlasmaPro ICP etch tools) are to facilitate graphene and 2D materials' processing, and enable the fabrication of tailored substrates for graphene such as SiN membranes which are useful for both fundamental and applied research on graphene and 2D materials.

Scientists at the Groningen Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials made a possibly valuable progress in allowing simpler, scalable graphene production by growing graphene on copper oxide.

The scientists analyzed a sample of graphene on copper and witnesses the presence of copper oxide alongside the copper. Since oxidized metals sometimes tend to leave the properties of graphene unaltered, the scientists studied this further and managed to successfully grow graphene on copper oxide. The team also reports that graphene on copper oxide is decoupled from the substrate, which means that it preserves its electronic properties. 

planarTECH completed the development of a new economical bench-top CVD system for graphene synthesis. The planarGROW-1M features a 1 tube, has a small footprint suitable for desktop use, and can be configured with manual, touch screen or fully automated PC controls.

planarTECH further reports that they already shipped the first system to the University of Costa Rica’s Center for Research in Materials Science and Engineering (CICIMA).

Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin, in collaboration with Aixtron developed a new method to grow high-quality wafer-scale (300 mm) graphene sheets. This process may enable the integration of graphene with Silicon CMOS and pave the way towards graphene-based electronics.

The method is based on CVD growth on polycrystalline copper film coated silicon substrates. They report that their graphene has better charge carrier transport characteristics compared to previously synthesized poly- or single-crystalline wafers. The graphene has few defects and covers over 96% of the 300-mm wafer substrate.

Researchers from the UK's University of Southampton developed a new process to synthesize large-area molybdenum di-sulphide (MoS₂), a 2D material similar to graphene in many of its properties. Up until now most MoS₂ production results in tiny flakes.

The researchers used atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) to fabricate large area (>1000 mm²) ultra- thin films only a few atoms thick. The researchers are collaborating in this research together with several UK companies and universities, MIT and Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.

Researchers from Texas Tech University developed a new way to study the interface between graphene and an elastic substrate, using AFM microscopy. This method may make it easier to understand and eventually commercialize graphene applications in flexible electronics.

The research team at TTU created a sandwich made of CVD-grown graphene sandwiched in two polymer layers. Nano-bubble inflation was used to "blow" this "nano-sandwich". This was done under AFM, which allowed the microscope to pick up the stress/strain signals.

Researchers from Korea's KAIST institute in collaboration with researchers from Korea University and the KIMM institute developed a new method to transfer graphene from a metallic substrate to any other substrate without any damage to the graphene. The method is very fast and is not expensive.

Current transfer processes can introduce impurities or even damage pure graphene sheets when the are transferred after being synthesized using CVD. The new method, however, uses heat, an electric field and mechanical pressure to attach the graphene to a new substrate using a strong adhesive force. The metallic substrate is pulled away mechanically.

Graphenea demonstrated how gallium nitride (GaN) can be grown on silicon using graphene as an intermediary layer. GaN (and other semiconductors) are very appealing for applications such as LEDs, lasers and high-frequency and high-power transistors, and silicon is a great substrate for this, but it is very difficult to grown high-quality epitaxial GaN films on Si(100).

Graphene (in collaboration with MIT,Ritsumeikan University, Seoul National University and Dongguk University) found out that graphene can be used as an intermediary layer in such a structure. The hexagonal lattice of graphene has the same symmetry as that of GaN, and it can also be easily transferred to a silicon wafer. The company's method results in the best GaN(0001) layers on Si(100) demonstrated to date.

Graphene Frontier, spun off from the University of Pennsylvania, is producing graphene using their own Atmospheric Pressure CVD (APCVD) technology, a roll-to-roll process that does not require a vacuum. We now hear that the company raised $1.6 million in Series Seed B funding.

The round was led by Trimaran Capital Partners with participation from R2M Investments and return backers WEMBA 36 Angels. Graphene Frontiers will use the money to hire additional researchers, expand the lab facilities and accelerate the development of their proprietary GFET sensors and manufacturing process.