Transfer-free growth of polymer-derived graphene on dielectric substrate from mobile hot-wire-assisted dual heating system

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is the most promising, relatively inexpensive approach for the growth of high quality graphene. However, the need to transfer the graphene to dielectric substrates limits its usage in electronic applications. Here, we demonstrate transfer-free growth of graphene on dielectric substrates via mobile hot-wire (MHW) assisted dual heating system (DHS). MHW is utilized as independent heat source over polymer/Ni/SiO2/Si, which is placed on a bottom heater. The hot-wire scan speed (Vw, 0.01–40 mm/min) and temperature (Tw) are varied to control the diffusion kinetics and amount of carbon source into nickel by changing the cooling rate of hot zone where nucleation and growth of graphene occurs between Ni and SiO2. The optimum growth condition for single-layer graphene is further verified through controlling the substrate temperature (Tsub, 430–630 °C). We also improve coverage of graphene by changing polymers as a function of thermal stability. The results show that thermal decomposition temperature determines the amount of the carbon dissolved into nickel for graphene growth. Through our synthesis, we can obtain nearly full-coverage of single-layer graphene. We believe our simple method of growing graphene is potentially scalable and advances the possibility of various electrical and optical applications.