The role of temperature on defect diffusion and nanoscale patterning in graphene

Abstract

Graphene is of great scientific interest due to a variety of unique properties such as ballistic transport, spin selectivity, the quantum hall effect, and other quantum properties. Nanopatterning and atomic scale modifications of graphene are expected to enable further control over its intrinsic properties, providing ways to tune the electronic properties through geometric and strain effects, introduce edge states and other local or extended topological defects, and sculpt circuit paths. The focused beam of a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) can be used to remove atoms, enabling milling, doping, and deposition. Utilization of a STEM as an atomic scale fabrication platform is increasing; however, a detailed understanding of beam-induced processes and the subsequent cascade of aftereffects is lacking. Here, we examine the electron beam effects on atomically clean graphene at a variety of temperatures ranging from 400 to 1000 C. We find that temperature plays a significant role in the milling rate and moderates competing processes of carbon adatom coalescence, graphene healing, and the diffusion (and recombination) of defects. The results of this work can be applied to a wider range of 2D materials and introduce better understanding of defect evolution in graphite and other bulk layered materials.

References in corpus (11)

• Suspended Graphene: a bridge to the Dirac point
• Spin qubits in graphene quantum dots
• From Point Defects in Graphene to Two-Dimensional Amorphous Carbon
• Electron beam nanosculpting of suspended graphene sheets
• Deep Learning of Atomically Resolved Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy Images: Chemical Identification and Tracking Local Transformations
• Imaging Atomic-Level Random Walk of a Point Defect in Graphene
• Doping transition-metal atoms in graphene for atomic-scale tailoring of electronic, magnetic, and quantum topological properties
• Electron-beam Introduction of Heteroatomic Pt-Si Structures in Graphene
• Doping of Cr in Graphene Using Electron Beam Manipulation for Functional Defect Engineering
• High performance current and spin diode of atomic carbon chain between transversely symmetric ribbon electrodes
• Controlling hydrocarbon transport and electron beam induced deposition on single layer graphene: toward atomic scale synthesis in the scanning transmission electron microscope