Fujitsu develops world's first technology for low-temperature full-surface direct formation of graphene transistors on large-scale substrates

KAWASAKI, JAPAN: Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. recently announced, as a world first, the development of a novel technology for forming graphene transistors directly on the entire surface of large-scale insulating substrates at low temperatures while employing chemical-vapor deposition (CVD) techniques which are in widespread use in semiconductor manufacturing.

Compared to the temperatures of 800-1000°C at which graphene is formed with conventional methods, Fujitsu has succeeded in significantly lowering the graphene fabrication-temperature to 650°C, thus allowing for graphene transistors to be formed directly on a variety of insulator substrates, including substrates that are sensitive to the higher temperatures.

Graphene is a nano-scale carbon material (nano-carbon) with the potential to be the material used in next-generation low-voltage, low-power transistors, as graphene features high-electron and hole mobility characteristics.

Details of this technology will be presented at the Materials Research Society 2009 (MRS 2009) Fall Meeting, to be held from November 30 to December 4 in Boston.
Background

Currently, silicon is the material used for transistor channels - the conduits that pass electricity - in LSIs, and through miniaturization of devices, higher speeds and lower power consumption have been realized. However, in recent years, miniaturization technology has been approaching its limits, and achieving further higher performance is becoming increasingly more difficult.

This issue has led to a wave of active development of next-generation transistors using materials such as germanium, gallium arsenide, or graphene as channel materials.

Graphene is essentially a single layer of the multi-layered graphite that is used, for example, as pencil lead. The individual carbon atoms in graphene are linked into a hexagonal lattice that is laid out in a flat sheet.

Single sheets of graphene were first separated successfully in 2004, and were found to feature excellent electrical characteristics. Experiments showed that graphene has extremely high electron mobility compared to silicon that is typically used in semiconductors, and it is anticipated that graphene could be used to produce fast, low-voltage transistors.

Technological challenges
Prototype transistors using graphene have been produced since several years ago. Laying the graphene on the substrate involved one of the following procedures:
1. Peel-off/transfer method
A method in which a layer is peeled off from a graphite crystal using tape, and transferred to the substrate.

2. CVD/transfer method
A method in which graphene is formed on a film of metallic catalyst at temperatures of approximately 800-1000°C, and then transferred to a different substrate.

3. Silicon-carbide (SiC) surface decomposition method
A method in which a substrate of SiC, a semiconductor, is heat-treated at 1200-1500°C to form graphene on the SiC surface.

The CVD/transfer method using a metallic catalyst has the advantage that graphene can be formed on any kind of substrate, but because it is impossible to form transistors on conductive metal, the graphene that had been formed on one substrate would be transferred to an insulating substrate to make the transistors.

The CVD/transferring method is prone to forming wrinkles in the thin-film graphene, and is not readily amenable to use with the 300-mm wafer size that is common today. Practical implementation of the CVD/transferring method would require the ability to produce transistors that are consistent regardless of substrate size.

An additional issue is that as graphene transistors are usually formed at temperatures of 800°C or higher, there was a limit to the types of substrates that graphene could be used with.

Overview of Fujitsu's technology
As a world first, Fujitsu Laboratories developed novel technology that allows for graphene to be formed on insulating film substrate via CVD at the low fabrication-temperature of 650°C, enabling graphene-based transistors to be directly formed on the entire surface of substrates.

Although the test substrate employed was a 75-mm silicon substrate (wafer) with oxide film, the new technique is applicable to larger 300-mm wafers as well.