Chemical vapor deposition growth of patterned graphene on copper

Graphene possesses unique electronic properties and application potentials. However, the synthesis of high-quality, single-layer graphene on large scale remains challenging. Mechanical exfoliation from graphite crystals yields graphene of the highest quality but in an uncontrolled and non-scalable way. Epitaxial growth on SiC has made significant advances in large-scale synthesis, although the cost is relatively high. Very recently, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is used to grow graphene on Ni and Cu surfaces and has also produced large-area graphene of reasonably high quality. Cracks and ripples, however, present considerable challenges to the CVD growth and transfer process. We report the CVD growth of single-layer graphene on patterned, micron-size copper templates. Raman spectra of the films show low D-band and relatively narrow 2D peak, suggesting high quality. We present and discuss the transport properties of graphene films transferred onto an insulating substrate.