Fabrication of reduced graphene oxide micro patterns by vacuum-ultraviolet irradiation: From chemical and structural evolution to improving patterning precision by light collimation

Time evolution of the chemical and structural properties of vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) reduced graphene oxide (rGO) were studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Kelvin-probe force microscopy to reveal the mechanism of VUV photoreduction, which can be ascribed to the local photochemical process on oxygen-containing functional groups. The difference in the efficiency between VUV and ultraviolet was demonstrated and the mechanism was discussed. The lateral electrical conductivity of VUV-produced rGO bilayer was measured by conductive atomic force microscopy, which was found to be higher than rGO monolayer due to the formation of new conductive paths between layers. The precision and resolution of VUV photo-reductive patterning was improved by collimating the VUV light. This new approach succeeded in fabricating highly-resolved 1 μm wide conductive rGO patterns on SiO2/Si substrate.

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