Memristors with Monolayer Graphene Electrodes Grown\nDirectly on Sapphire Wafers

The development of\nthe memristor has generated significant interest\ndue to its non-volatility, simple structure, and low power consumption.\nMemristors based on graphene offer atomic monolayer thickness, flexibility,\nand uniformity and have attracted attention as a promising alternative\nto contemporary field-effect transistor (FET) technology in applications\nsuch as logic and memory devices, achieving higher integration density\nand lower power consumption. The use of graphene as electrodes in\nmemristors could also increase robustness against degradation mechanisms,\nincluding oxygen vacancy diffusion to the electrode and unwanted metal\nion diffusion. However, to realize this technological transformation,\nit is necessary to establish a scalable, robust, and cost-effective\ndevice fabrication process. Here we report the direct growth of high-quality\nmonolayer graphene on sapphire wafers in a mass-producible, contamination-free,\nand transfer-free manner, using a commercially available metal–organic\nchemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) system. By taking advantage of this\napproach, graphene-electrode based memristors are developed, and all\nthe processes used in the device fabrication incorporating graphene\nelectrodes can be performed at wafer scale. The graphene electrode-based\nmemristor demonstrates promising characteristics in terms of endurance,\nretention, and ON/OFF ratio. This work presents a possible and viable\nroute to achieving robust graphene-based memristors in a commercially\nand technologically sustainable manner, paving the way for the realization\nof more powerful and compact integrated graphene electronics in the\nfuture.