We have discovered how to drive graphene crystal growth with a large shape anisotropy through control of kinetics on the surface of Ge(001) single crystal wafers via CH₄ chemical vapor deposition. This discovery enables the direct synthesis of narrow, armchair, semiconducting nanoribbons. The ribbons are self-orienting, self-defining, and have smooth edges. The ribbons exhibit exceptional transport properties (e.g., high on-state conductance and on/off ratio at room temperature) and provide a promising pathway towards the direct integration of high-performance nanocarbon electronics onto conventional semiconductor wafer platforms.

This talk will detail the synthesis of these ribbons (including seeded arrays of ribbons), the elucidation of their structure, and the characterization of their promising charge transport properties.

1. M. Jacobberger, B. Kiraly, M. Fortin-Deschenes, P. L. Levesque, K. M. McElhinny, G. J. Brady, Richard Rojas Delgado, S. Singha Roy, A. Mannix, M. G. Lagally, P. G. Evans, P. Desjardins, R. Martel, M. C. Hersam, N. P. Guisinger, M. S. Arnold, Direct Oriented Growth of Armchair Graphene Nanoribbons on Germanium, NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, 6, 8006 (2015).
2. Kiraly, A. J. Mannix, R. M. Jacobberger, B. L. Fisher, M. S. Arnold, M. C. Hersam, N. P. Guisinger, Sub-5 nm, Globally Aligned Graphene Nanoribbons on Ge (001), APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS, 108, 213101 (2016).
3. M. Jacobberger, M. S. Arnold, High Performance Charge Transport in Semiconducting Armchair Graphene Nanoribbons Grown Directly on Germanium. ACS NANO, 11, 8924 (2017).
4. J. Way, R. M. Jacobberger, M. S. Arnold, Seed-Initiated Anisotropic Growth of Unidirectional Armchair Graphene Nanoribbon Arrays on Germanium, SUBMITTED (2017).
5. S. Arnold, R. M. Jacobberger, Oriented Bottom-Up Growth of Armchair Graphene Nanoribbons on Germanium, U.S. PATENT 9,287,359 (2016).
6. S. Arnold, A. J. Way, R. M. Jacobberger, Seed-Mediated Growth of Patterned Graphene Nanoribbon Arrays, U.S. PATENT 9,761,669 (2017).