Raman Spectroscopy of Monolayer Graphene on Device Platform

Interest in two-dimensional materials, such as monolayer graphene has been rising in recent years due to its applications in nanotechnology. Monolayer graphene has many advantageous properties for micro/nano-electromechanical (MEMS/NEMS) such as high electrical conductivity, large surface-to-volume ratio, low mass, and high Young’s modulus. When graphene is strained, its electronic properties and band structure can be engineered, thus resulting in tunable devices which are desired in MEMS/NEMS applications.

In this work, we will discuss three standard methods of synthesizing monolayer graphene and explore the methodology of mechanical exfoliation of bulk graphene onto SiO2/Si substrates with thermal annealing. Raman spectroscopy was used to verify our graphene's monolayer through its G-peak and 2D-peak, followed by surface characterization through atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements. Using the previously mentioned method of mechanical exfoliation, we repeated this process on a nanohole-patterned SiO2/Si, resulting in a suspended monolayer graphene.