Contact resistance study of various metal electrodes with CVD graphene

In this study, the contact resistance of various metals to chemical vapor deposited (CVD) monolayer graphene is investigated. Transfer length method (TLM) structures with varying channel widths and separation between contacts have been fabricated and electrically characterized in ambient air and vacuum condition. Electrical contacts are made with five metals: gold, nickel, nickel/gold, palladium and platinum/gold. The lowest value of 92 Ω μm is observed for the contact resistance between graphene and gold, extracted from back-gated devices at an applied back-gate bias of −40 V. Measurements carried out under vacuum show larger contact resistance values when compared with measurements carried out in ambient conditions. Post processing annealing at 450 °C for 1 h in argon-95%/hydrogen-5% atmosphere results in lowering the contact resistance value which is attributed to the enhancement of the adhesion between metal and graphene. The results presented in this work provide an overview for potential contact engineering for high performance graphene-based electronic devices.