Engineering of electronic properties of single layer graphene by swift heavy ion irradiation

In this work, swift heavy ion irradiation induced effects on the electrical properties of single layer graphene are reported. The modulation in minimum conductivity point in graphene with in-situ electrical measurement during ion irradiation was studied. It is found that the resistance of graphene layer decreases at lower fluences up to 3 x 10(11) ions/cm(2), which is accompanied by the five-fold increase in electron and hole mobilities. The ion irradiation induced increase in electron and hole mobilities at lower fluence up to 1 x 10(11) ions/cm(2) is verified by separate Hall measurements on another irradiated graphene sample at the selected fluence. In contrast to the adverse effects of irradiation on the electrical properties of materials, we have found improvement in electrical mobility after irradiation. The increment in mobility is explained by considering the defect annealing in graphene after irradiation at a lower fluence regime. The modification in carrier density after irradiation is also observed. Based on findings of the present work, we suggest ion beam irradiation as a useful tool for tuning of the electrical properties of graphene. Published by AIP Publishing.