• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.204-208
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• 2018

Monolayer graphene grown via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is recognized as a promising material for sensor applications owing to its extremely large surface-to-volume ratio and outstanding electrical properties, as well as the fact that it can be easily transferred onto arbitrary substrates on a large-scale. However, the Dirac voltage of CVD-graphene devices fabricated with transferred graphene layers typically exhibit positive shifts arising from transfer and photolithography residues on the graphene surface. Furthermore, the Dirac voltage is dependent on the channel lengths because of the effect of metal-graphene contacts. Thus, large and nonuniform Dirac voltage of the transferred graphene is a critical issue in the fabrication of graphene-based sensor devices. In this work, we propose a fabrication process for graphene field-effect transistors with Dirac voltages close to zero. A vacuum annealing process at $300^{\circ}C$ was performed to eliminate the positive shift and channel-length-dependence of the Dirac voltage. In addition, the annealing process improved the carrier mobility of electrons and holes significantly by removing the residues on the graphene layer and reducing the effect of metal-graphene contacts. Uniform and close to zero Dirac voltage is crucial for the uniformity and low-power/voltage operation for sensor applications. Thus, the current study is expected to contribute significantly to the development of graphene-based practical sensor devices.