Advanced characterization

by spectroscopic, scanning-probe and electron microscopy-based techniques

Apart from looking at commercially available graphene and in-house exfoliated materials, efforts are made to produce single or few layer sheets of graphene epitaxially grown from doped metal carbides.

Another important track  is to study the effect of defects intentionally introducded by chemical or physical treatments, or during growth. Although a graphene sheet ideally is a highly ordered and well defined material, edges and defects may have significant influence on the electronic properties. The aim is to characterize these defects with both microscopic and spectroscopic methods. The experimental results will then be compared to theoretical calculations to get a thorough understanding of the graphene materials.

Experimental characterization of graphenes at an atomic level by spectroscopic techniques such as X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy and Photoelectron Spectroscopy and scanning probe techniques is being carried out by Assoc. Prof. Olof Karis and Dr. Pål Palmgren at the Department of Physics and Astronomy. The EM-based characterizations are the responsibility of Prof. Klaus Leifer at the Department of Engineering Sciences, and Prof. Shili Zhang, at the at the same Department, will coordinate the solid-state electronics/device characterization.

XAS and XPS experiments are performed at MAX-Lab in Lund, Sweden and at other synchrotron light facilities.

The scanning probe experiments are done in-house, where controlled experiments can be performed under ultrahigh vacuum and at variable temperature with scanning tunneling microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Also the electron microcopy-based characterzations are carried out using the in-house equipment of the MSL facility.