Improving Radio Frequency Transmission Properties of Graphene via Carrier Concentration Control toward High Frequency Transmission Line Applications

Graphene has been gradually studied as a high-frequency transmission line material owing to high carrier mobility with frequency independence up to a few THz. However, the graphene-based transmission lines have poor conductivity due to their low carrier concentration. Here, it is observed that the radio frequency (RF) transmission performance could be severely hampered by the defect-induced scattering, even though the carrier concentration is increased. As a possible solution, the deposition of the amorphous carbon on the graphene is studied in the high-frequency region up to 110 GHz. The DC resistance is reduced by as much as 60%, and the RF transmission property is also enhanced by 3 dB. Also, the amorphous carbon covered graphene shows stable performance under a harsh environment. These results prove that the carrier concentration control is an effective and a facile method to improve the transmission performance of graphene. It opens up the possibilities of using graphene as interconnects in the ultrahigh-frequency region.