A direct transfer solution for digital laser printing of CVD graphene

Abstract State-of-the-art methods for printing highly resolved pixels of two-dimensional (2D) materials on technologically important substrates typically involve multiple and time-consuming processing steps which increase device fabrication complexity and the risk of impurity contamination. This work introduces an alternative printing approach based on the laser induced forward transfer (LIFT) technique for the successful digital transfer of graphene, the 2D material par excellence. Using LIFT, CVD graphene pixels of 30 μm × 30 μm in size are transferred on SiO₂/Si and flexible polymer substrates. The potential of upscaling this novel approach by reaching sizes of up to 300 μm × 300 μm for transferred graphene patches is also demonstrated. The feasibility of laser-induced transfer of graphene is corroborated with ab initio molecular dynamics simulations which elucidate atomic-scale details of the seamless detachment of the monolayer from a metallic donor surface and its subsequent attachment to a receiver substrate.