title: Anisotropic etching and nanoribbon formation in single-layer graphene.
abstract: We demonstrate anisotropic etching of single-layer graphene by thermally activated nickel nanoparticles. Using this technique, we obtain sub-10-nm nanoribbons and other graphene nanostructures with edges aligned along a single crystallographic direction. We observe a new catalytic channeling behavior, whereby etched cuts do not intersect, resulting in continuously connected geometries. Raman spectroscopy and electronic measurements show that the quality of the graphene is resilient under the etching conditions, indicating that this method may serve as a powerful technique to produce graphene nanocircuits with well-defined crystallographic edges.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Leonardo C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Campos
authors.forename: Vitor R
authors.initials: VR
authors.lastname: Manfrinato
authors.forename: Javier D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Sanchez-Yamagishi
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jarillo-Herrero
mesh_terms: D016880:Anisotropy; D006108:Graphite / Q000737:chemistry*; D015394:Molecular Structure; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D009532:Nickel / Q000737:chemistry*; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D006108:Graphite; D009532:Nickel