Fast growth of wafer-scale graphene on sapphire

Fast growth of wafer-scale graphene on sapphire | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Fast growth of wafer-scale graphene on sapphire Andrea Ferrari, Yinghan Li, Feifei Xu, Menglei Wang, Jincan Zhang, and 15 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7820875/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Efficient growth of graphene over wafer-scale insulators is essential for fab-integration. Here we show that modulations of step architectures and atomic surfaces of c-plane sapphire allow fast graphene growth on 6” wafers (complete coverage in 10 mins), thus enabling batch synthesis to reduce production costs. We identify carbon capture at Al-rich surfaces and unidirectional flake emergence guided by step edges as the key elements leading to uniform graphene films. The growth quality of single-layer graphene is demonstrated by testing over 3300 top-gated device arrays on a 4” graphene/sapphire wafer, reaching mobility > 3000 cm 2 V − 1 s − 1 . We use this to make white light-emitting diodes (LED) in an industrial production line, attaining ~ 25% reduction in thermal resistance and ~ 90% decrease in attenuation of light output power with respect to counterparts fabricated without graphene, during an accelerated aging test of 168 h at 85 o C, equivalent to 1.8 years in normal room-temperature conditions. Our findings pave the way to transfer-free batch synthesis of high-quality graphene wafers. Physical sciences/Nanoscience and technology/Graphene/Synthesis of graphene Physical sciences/Materials science/Materials for devices/Electronic devices Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SI09102025.docx Dataset 1 Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7820875","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":531110275,"identity":"2912e3d1-cd33-42ee-b92f-e47abbeda7ca","order_by":0,"name":"Andrea Ferrari","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA4ElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFACxocPPlSgiLAR0sJsbDjjDIlazKQ520jRwt9+mEGacZ5NnrwD88NPNxjs5Bkk0hLwapE4k8xgXLgtrdjwAJuxdA5DsmGDRNoB/Nbc4D+QPHPb4cSNDTwMQC3MCQwS6Q14dcjfYGY4zDvnP0gL8+8chnrCWgxuMDM28zYcSJzPwMMGtOUwUAsBhxmeSWZmnHEsOXEDM5uZdY7BccM2nmcJeLXIHT/M/uNDjV3i/Pbmx7dzKqrl+dnTDPBqQbjwMJgkIiLhQL6BaKWjYBSMglEw0gAAPEk/WJIU4xQAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0907-9993","institution":"University of Cambridge","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Andrea","middleName":"","lastName":"Ferrari","suffix":""},{"id":531110276,"identity":"322a88bc-e016-480f-9e35-125f6a86ddfa","order_by":1,"name":"Yinghan Li","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Soochow University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yinghan","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""},{"id":531110277,"identity":"27cf60ea-8304-4a30-9181-715dcfeef50e","order_by":2,"name":"Feifei Xu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"China University of Petroleum","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Feifei","middleName":"","lastName":"Xu","suffix":""},{"id":531110278,"identity":"5fc00576-ea80-4f91-9ab2-d4ce41310b78","order_by":3,"name":"Menglei Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Soochow University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Menglei","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":531110279,"identity":"632ab190-e7cb-4fad-8d86-4a436d3ff2d9","order_by":4,"name":"Jincan Zhang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"College of Energy, Soochow Institute for Energy and Materials Innovations, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, P. 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Here we show that modulations of step architectures and atomic surfaces of c-plane sapphire allow fast graphene growth on 6” wafers (complete coverage in 10 mins), thus enabling batch synthesis to reduce production costs. We identify carbon capture at Al-rich surfaces and unidirectional flake emergence guided by step edges as the key elements leading to uniform graphene films. The growth quality of single-layer graphene is demonstrated by testing over 3300 top-gated device arrays on a 4” graphene/sapphire wafer, reaching mobility \u0026gt; 3000 cm\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003eV\u003csup\u003e− 1\u003c/sup\u003es\u003csup\u003e− 1\u003c/sup\u003e. 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