Effects of Different Ion Irradiation on the Contact Resistance of Pd/Graphene Contacts

The effect of ion-induced defects on graphene was studied to investigate the contact resistance of 40 nm palladium (Pd) contacting on graphene. The defect development was considered and analyzed by irradiating boron (B), carbon (C), nitrogen (N2), and argon (Ar) ions on as-transferred graphene before metallization. The bombardment energy was set at 1.5 keV and ion dose at 1 × 1014 ions/cm2. The defect yields under different ion irradiation conditions were examined by Raman spectroscopy. Although, dissolution process occurs spontaneously upon metal deposition, chemical reaction between metal and graphene is more pronounced at higher temperatures. The rapid thermal annealing (RTA) treatment was performed to improve the Pd/graphene contact after annealing at 450 °C, 500 °C, 550 °C, and 600 °C. The lowest contact resistance of 95.2 Ω-µm was achieved at 550 °C RTA with Ar ion irradiation. We have proved that ion irradiation significantly enhance the Pd/graphene contact instead of pd/pristine graphene contact. Therefore, in view of the contention of results ion induced defects before metallization plus the RTA served an excellent purpose to reduce the contact resistance.