Direct observation of resistive heating at graphene wrinkles and grain boundaries

Abstract

We directly measure the nanometer-scale temperature rise at wrinkles and grain boundaries (GBs) in functioning graphene devices by scanning Joule expansion microscopy with ∼50 nm spatial and ∼0.2 K temperature resolution. We observe a small temperature increase at select wrinkles and a large (∼100 K) temperature increase at GBs between coalesced hexagonal grains. Comparisons of measurements with device simulations estimate the GB resistivity (8–150 Ω μm) among the lowest reported for graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition. An analytical model is developed, showing that GBs can experience highly localized resistive heating and temperature rise, most likely affecting the reliability of graphene devices. Our studies provide an unprecedented view of thermal effects surrounding nanoscale defects in nanomaterials such as graphene.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Oct 06, 2014
Source ID
10.1063/1.4896676

Entities

People

  • David Estrada
  • Eric Pop
  • Gyula Eres
  • Ivan Vlassiouk
  • Joseph W Lyding
  • Joshua D. Wood
  • Kyle L. Grosse
  • Vincent E. Dorgan
  • William P King

Organizations

  • Army Research Office
  • National Science Foundation
  • Oak Ridge National Laboratory
  • Stanford University
  • University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Materials Science and Engineering.
  • Quantum Dot Semiconductor Device Photonics and Graphene Optoelectronic Materials and THz Physics.
  • Reinforced Composite Materials

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Microelectronics - Graphene