Oriented graphene films for use as high performance thermal and electrical interconnects

摘要

Carbon thin films can be prepared with properties that make them suitable for applications in electronics including heat sinks, electrical interconnects transistors and chemical sensors. In this work, we examine the microstructure and normalised through film electrical resistance of oriented and non-oriented carbon films deposited onto silicon substrates at room temperature using a Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc (FCVA). Electrical measurements have also been performed on carbon films which were lithographically patterned to produce test structures resembling vertical interconnects. Two-point, through-film current-voltage measurements of NiCr/Carbon/Si structures showed that the electrical resistance of the carbon films could be varied by several orders of magnitude simply by selecting different substrate bias voltages. Importantly, carbon films composed of vertically aligned graphene sheets were found to provide low resistance, linear current-voltage characteristics, indicating the formation of Ohmic junctions at the NiCr and Si interfaces of the NiCr/Carbon/Si structure.