Direct growth of graphene film on the silicon substrate with a nickel-ring remote catalyzation

Abstract

Direct growth of graphene films on silicon substrates is significantly important to the applications of graphene in the field of photoelectronics. To suspend the impurities, defects, and quality degradation caused by transferring process from metallic substrate to the target substrates (silicon) in practical application scenarios, we developed a novel nickel-ring remote catalyzation method for in-situ growth of uniform and metal contamination-free graphene films on the silicon substrate via chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The Nickel was selected as a catalyst due to its high catalytic activity for methane dissociation, broad working temperature range, and absence of metal contamination. The catalyzation efficiency was significantly improved by nickel-ring remote catalyzation method which confirmed by CFD simulation. The obtained graphene films exhibited good uniformity and metal contamination-free which characterised by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) mapping and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The as-grown graphene/silicon had well-coupled interface without impurities, demonstrating excellent electrical and photoelectric properties compared to the previous studies, including a low sheet resistance of 161.35 $\pm$ 0.67 Ω∙□⁻¹, a high carrier mobility of 1355.1 ± 1.83 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹, and a photoelectric responsivity of approximately 0.72 A W⁻¹ at 1550 nm laser light. The nickel-ring remote catalyzation method provides a new route for fabricating two-dimensional materials with low impurity content and high uniformity on silicon substrates, benefiting the application of two-dimensional materials in silicon-based optoelectronic devices.