Large-Scale Synthesis of Graphene Films by Joule-Heating-Induced Chemical Vapor Deposition

We report large-area synthesis of few-layer graphene films by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) in a cold-wall reactor. The key feature of this method is that the catalytic metal layers on the SiO2/Si substrates are self-heated to high growth temperature (900 degrees C to 1000 degrees C) by high-current Joule heating. Synthesis of high-quality graphene films, whose structural and electrical characteristics are comparable to those grown by hot-wall CVD systems, was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy images, Raman spectra, and current-voltage analysis. Optical transmittance spectra of the graphene films allowed us to estimate the number of graphene layers, which revealed that high-temperature exposure of Ni thin layers to a carbon precursor (CH4) was critical in determining the number of graphene layers. In particular, exposure to CH4 for 20 s produces very thin graphene films with an optical transmittance of 93%, corresponding to an average layer number of three and a sheet resistance of similar to 600 Omega/square.