Characterization of integrated on-chip graphene/Cu inductor for MEMS technology

Graphene has become an interesting material in electronic and biological applications due to its excellent properties. The work of this paper presents an integrated on-chip planar spiral inductor based on graphene/Cu film. The conductive coil of graphene/Cu composite film is fabricated using MEMS technology. The inductor consists of two octagonal planar spiral turns deposited on graphene film which is prepared using electrophoretic deposition method. Investigated electrical performance of the inductor are tested based on equivalent electrical circuit. The electrical performance comparison results confirm that octagonal geometry is more appropriate than the square form. The graphene/Cu composite film presents good results comparing to pure copper inductor. The graphene/Cu inductor using electrophoretic deposition method presents a good quality for reduced number of turns and compact sizes. Using scanning electron microscope, the optimized electrophoretic deposition voltage is intended to be 12 V. Using atomic force microscope measurements, graphene film presents a lower roughness surface morphology by electrophoretic deposition method. This study offers a new way to enlarge the use of graphene in the integrated microelectronic devices.