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Improving Graphene-metal Contacts: Thermal Induced Polishing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2018

Eliezer Fernando Oliveira*
Affiliation:
Gleb Wataghin Institute of Physics, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil Center for Computational Engineering & Sciences (CCES), University of Campinas - UNICAMP, Campinas, SP, Brazil
Ricardo Paupitz Santos
Affiliation:
Institute of Geosciences and Exact Sciences, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Rio Claro, SP, Brazil
Pedro Alves da Silva Autreto
Affiliation:
Gleb Wataghin Institute of Physics, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil Federal University of ABC, Center of Natural Human Science, Santo Andre, SP, Brazil
Stanislav Moshkalev
Affiliation:
Center for Semiconductor Components, State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, SP, Brazil
Douglas Soares Galvão
Affiliation:
Gleb Wataghin Institute of Physics, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil Center for Computational Engineering & Sciences (CCES), University of Campinas - UNICAMP, Campinas, SP, Brazil
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Abstract

Graphene is a very promising material for nanoelectronics applications due to its unique and remarkable electronic and thermal properties. However, when deposited on metallic electrodes the overall thermal conductivity is significantly decreased. This phenomenon has been attributed to the mismatch between the interfaces and contact thermal resistance. Experimentally, one way to improve the graphene/metal contact is through high-temperature annealing, but the detailed mechanisms behind these processes remain unclear. In order to address these questions, we carried out fully atomistic reactive molecular dynamics simulations using the ReaxFF force field to investigate the interactions between multi-layer graphene and metallic electrodes (nickel) under (thermal) annealing. Our results show that the annealing induces an upward-downward movement of the graphene layers, causing a pile-driver-like effect over the metallic surface. This graphene induced movements cause a planarization (thermal polishing-like effect) of the metallic surface, which results in the increase of the effective graphene/metal contact area. This can also explain the experimentally observed improvements of the thermal and electric conductivities.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2018 

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References

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