Seeding atomic layer deposition of high-k dielectric on graphene with ultrathin poly(4-vinylphenol) layer for enhanced device performance and reliability

We demonstrate that ultrathin poly(4-vinylphenol) (PVP) acts as an effective organic seeding layer for atomic layer deposition (ALD) of high-k dielectric on large-scale graphene fabricated by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). While identical ALD conditions result in incomplete and rough dielectric deposition on CVD graphene, the reactive groups provided by the PVP seeding layer yield conformal and pinhole-free dielectric films throughout the large-scale graphene. Top-gate graphene field effect transistors fabricated with the high quality, PVP-seeded Al2O3 gate dielectric show superior carrier mobility and enhanced reliability performance, which are desirable for graphene nanoelectronics. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4737645]