| AVS 66th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Applied Surface Science Division | Thursday Sessions |
| Session AS-ThM |
| Session: | Advances in Depth Profiling, Imaging and Time-resolved Analysis |
| Presenter: | Kateryna Artyushkova, Physical Electronics and University of New Mexico |
| Authors: | K. Artyushkova, Physical Electronics and University of New Mexico B.W. Schmidt, Physical Electronics J.E. Mann, Physical Electronics A.A. Ellsworth, Physical Electronics J.G. Newman, Physical Electronics |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Several techniques currently being used to determine the thickness of graphene films include optical contrast, Raman and scanning probe microscopy. These methods provide accurate information on thickness but limited information on other important parameters as chemical purity, homogeneity of coverage and defect density. Surface analytical techniques, such as X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (TOF-SIMS), have the potential to fill this gap.
Surface analysis of graphene poses multiple challenges. The thickness of single-layered graphene is on the order of 0.4 nm, while even the most surface-sensitive spectroscopic techniques have on the order of 1-5 nm sampling depth. The surface carbon contamination due to adventitious carbon adds another level of complexity in trying to understand graphene chemistry and homogeneity accurately.
In this report, we will present an analysis of commercially available graphene samples prepared on several types of substrates, such as SiO2 and PET. The chemical structure and thickness of graphene samples were studied by a combination of XPS and TOF-SIMS depth profiling and angle-resolved XPS. The challenges and successes of this multi-technique analysis of graphene will be discussed.