Utilizing laser scribing for graphene ablation

Abstract

We present the investigation of graphene ablation by laser scribing from a LightScribe DVD. In laser scribed graphene (LSG) samples, laser scribed holes (LSHs) were observed as dark features filled with residuals from copper etching. The LSHs tend to form a series of discontinuous lines aligning to laser scribed traces on the disk. The calculated fluence of laser scribing was about 93 and 124 mJ/cm2 for a pulse train and a single pulse, respectively. These fluences are in the range of fluence threshold of graphene ablation by femtosecond laser and are much higher than that of cw laser. From characterizations and electrical measurements, evidence of extended defects in graphene from LSHs in LSG was observed. From testing of graphene-based gas sensors, we can see that the response of LSG to ethanol is almost 100 times higher than that of graphene. This work provides a low-cost, facile method of graphene ablation by utilizing laser scribing. By improving sample preparation, our method could be applied to patterning graphene into microstrips, which have applications in novel devices such as THz sources and gas sensors.