Deakin University
Browse

File(s) under permanent embargo

Rigorous and accurate contrast spectroscopy for ultimate thickness determination of micrometer-sized graphene on gold and molecular sensing

Version 2 2024-06-06, 10:10
Version 1 2018-07-12, 10:20
journal contribution
posted on 2018-07-05, 00:00 authored by Joel M Katzen, Matěj Velický, Yuefeng Huang, Stacey Drakeley, William Hendren, Robert M Bowman, Qiran CaiQiran Cai, Ying (Ian) ChenYing (Ian) Chen, Luhua LiLuhua Li, Fumin Huang
The thickness of graphene films can be accurately determined by optical contrast spectroscopy. However, this becomes challenging and complicated when the flake size reduces to the micrometer scale, where the contrast spectrum is sensitively dependent on the polarization and incident angle of light. Here, we report accurate measurement of the optical contrast spectra of micrometer-sized few-layer graphene flakes on Au substrate. Using a high-resolution optical microscopy with a 100× magnification objective, we accurately determined the layer numbers of flakes as small as one micrometer in lateral size. We developed a theoretical model to accurately take into account the appropriate contribution of light incident at various angles and polarizations, which matched the experimental results extremely well. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the optical contrast spectroscopy is highly sensitive to detect the adsorption of submonolayer airborne hydrocarbon molecules, which can reveal whether graphene is contaminated. Though the technique was demonstrated on graphene, it can be readily generalized to many other two-dimensional materials, which opens new avenues for developing miniaturized and ultrasensitive label-free molecular sensors.

History

Journal

ACS applied materials and interfaces

Volume

10

Issue

26

Pagination

22520 - 22528

Publisher

ACS Publications

Location

Washington, D.C.

eISSN

1944-8252

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2018, American Chemical Society