Effects of etchants in the transfer of chemical vapor deposited graphene

Abstract

The quality of graphene can be strongly modified during the transfer process following chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth. Here, we transferred CVD-grown graphene from a copper foil to a SiO2/Si substrate using wet etching with four different etchants: HNO3, FeCl3, (NH4)2S2O8, and a commercial copper etchant. We then compared the quality of graphene after the transfer process in terms of surface modifications, pollutions (residues and contaminations), and electrical properties (mobility and density). Our tests and analyses showed that the commercial copper etchant provides the best structural integrity, the least amount of residues, and the smallest doping carrier concentration.