Fabrication of 10-nm-scale nanoconstrictions in graphene using atomic force microscopy-based local anodic oxidation lithography

Abstract

We performed local anodic oxidation (LAO) lithography on monolayer graphene and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) using atomic force microscope (AFM). Auger electron spectroscopic measurements in the oxidized area formed on the HOPG revealed that the number of oxygen atoms systematically increased with the bias voltage applied to the AFM cantilever |Vtip|, which demonstrates the tunability of the extent of oxidation with |Vtip|. By optimizing the LAO conditions, we fabricated monolayer graphene nanoconstrictions with a channel width as small as 10 nm, which is the smallest graphene nanoconstriction so far achieved by utilizing AFM lithography techniques.