Direction writing of graphene-based nanoribbons via thermochemical nanolithography

This project employs direct writing with an atomic force microscope (AFM) to fabricate simple graphene-based electronic components like resistors and transistors at nanometer-length scales. The goal is to explore their electronic properties for graphene-based electronics. Conducting nanoribbons of graphene were fabricated using thermochemical nanolithography (TCNL). TCNL uses a heated AFM cantilever to provide precise local heating to an insulating fluorographene (FG) substrate. The heat reduces the substrate into a material known as reduced fluorographene (rFG) which exhibits electric properties close to those of pristine graphene. Compared to other attempts to produce graphene-based devices, this technique is simple, does not involve solvents or other complicated fabrication steps, and allows for the exact placement of the devices on the wafer.