Catalytic Nano-Pen for Cutting Graphene

</a><strong>Background</strong><br>

Graphene, a monoatomic layer of graphite, is a promising candidate for future (nano)electronic applications. Currently however there are no techniques available for reproducibly cutting graphene with nanometer precision.</p> <p><!–break–></p> <p style=”margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;” class=”MsoNormal”><strong>Technology</strong><br> We provide a catalytic Nano-Pen for high speed trench channeling of mono- and multilayer graphene using silver nanoparticles in an ambient environment and at elevated temperatures. A silver nanoparticle located at a graphene edge catalyzes oxidation of neighboring carbon atoms, thereby burning a trench into the graphene layer.<br> <br> <strong>Benefits</strong><br> <ul> <li>high-precision lithography on graphene</li> <li>cutting of smooth trenches (peak-to-peak roughness below 2 nm)</li> <li>cutting speeds up to 250 nm/s</li> <li>Environmentally friendly (gold or silver as catalytic material)</li> <li>User friendly (transfer pattern directly from computer to graphene layer)</li> <li>Economically priced (no need for complex high-vacuum installations as is required for electron beam lithography)</li> </ul> <strong>IP Rights</strong><br> German Patent DE102008053691B3<br> US Patent Application<br> <br> <strong>Patent Owner</strong><br> Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany</p>

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