Enhancing Thermal Management of Graphene Devices by Self-Assembled Monolayers

Two-dimensional graphene has emerged as a promising competitor to silicon in the post-Moore era due to its superior electrical, optical, and thermal properties. However, graphene undergoes a strong degradation in its in-plane thermal conductivity when it is coupled to an amorphous substrate. Meanwhile, the weak van der Waals interaction between graphene and the dielectric substrate leads to high interfacial thermal resistance. Severe challenges in the device’s heat dissipation rise, resulting in elevated hotspot and deteriorated electrical performance. Here, we applied self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) to modify the interface between graphene and the oxide substrate and mitigate the thermal issues in the device. The −NH 2 terminated SAM demonstrates enhanced interfacial coupling strength between graphene and substrate, increasing the interfacial thermal conductance. The −CH 3 terminated SAM effectively suppresses the substrate phonon scattering, preserving the high in-plane thermal conductivity of graphene. Particularly, the −NH 2 terminated SAM significantly enhances the heat dissipation efficacy of graphene field-effect transistors and alleviates the self-heating issues. Enhancements of 28.1% and 48.2% were observed in the devices’ current-carrying capacity and maximum power density, respectively. Our research provides a highly attractive platform for incorporating SAMs to improve thermal management in two-dimensional electronic devices.