FEATURE MARKET REPORT
CVD GRAPHENE COMES OF AGE
realised, after a long period of development, it is now possible to reliably buy graphene wafers from multiple manufacturers on various substrates and with a range of sizes from multiple manufacturers. In preparation for the anticipated demand, a few have installed notable capacities or are in the process of scaling up. The initial hype around graphene in the
CVD Graphene: 2021 status and outlook from IDTechEx G
iven the exciting properties, graphene has always been linked as
a revolutionary material for the electronics industry. CVD graphene is cited as the ideal solution in providing a perfect single layer produced in a low cost continuous R2R process, but the manufacturing and commercial reality have proved very different. After a long period of research, and with players regularly exiting and entering the field, we are only now starting to see this technology mature and the dawn of the commercial reality. There are two approaches to graphene
production, a "top-down" approach (from graphite) or a "bottom-up" method (predominantly CVD grown). The top-down approach, producing graphene powders and nanoplatelets, is what will dominate the market in both the short and mid-term. These are used for a wide range of applications, including energy storage, polymer composites, coatings, thermal management, and more. IDTechEx forecast this to exceed $600m in revenue for the nanoplatelets and powders alone within the next decade. Most of these applications use
graphene as a liquid or solid dispersed additive displacing the likes of carbon black or enabling new features. There are electronic applications, such as the use in
18 FEBRUARY 2021 | ELECTRONICS
conductive inks, but that is overall a far smaller market share. Instead, most of the electronic applications have been centred around CVD grown graphene.
CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) is the concept of growing your 2D graphene material on a surface (usually copper or nickel) using a hydrocarbon or alternative feedstock. The goal of CVD graphene is to grow a low cost, pure, perfect single layer in a continuous R2R production; if this were to be achieved, it would be truly revolutionary to the electronics sector. Many companies have spent a lot of
money chasing this dream, including Samsung, Sony, and LG Electronics. However, there are multiple challenges in both the production and transfer of these films, mostly linked with metal contaminants and defects. When looking to commercialise their CVD grown graphene, many manufacturers have ended up in a situation of "material push" rather than "market pull". IDTechEx has seen multiple innovations and developments in this field as the technology evolves and begins to mature, but a stepwise innovation is required to reach that holy grail. Despite the idealised solution not being
electronics industry was for transparent conductive films (TCF) and revolutionising the semiconductor industry. The commercial reality is very different; in TCFs, CVD graphene struggles to compete with the incumbent materials (such as ITO), and the lack of bandgap limits the use as a semiconductor. A bandgap can be introduced, but that is typically at the expense of the electron mobility or other properties that make graphene so attractive. This remains a very active area of research, and IDTechEx has observed some notable commercial jumps that could rapidly accelerate this. Rather than TCFs and semiconductors,
the initial commercial activity has shifted to focus on sensors and photonics, where early success and demand is now being seen. Taking advantage of graphene's conductivity, surface area, and other unique properties, a wide range of sensor applications are gaining significant momentum in numerous sectors. Previous impressive examples came from the likes of Bosch, but with quality and reproducibility challenges, there had been limits until now. Graphene is just the first in a whole
family of emerging 2D materials. There is a huge amount of R&D interest in materials beyond graphene, such as boron nitride and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) that bring new properties such as being dielectric or having a tunable bandgap. There are still many early-stage manufacturing challenges, but CVD growth processes are showing some very promising results.
IDTechEx
www.IDTechEx.com
/ ELECTRONICS
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