Low contact resistance between graphene and metals is of paramount importance to fabricate high performance graphene-based devices. In this paper, the impact of both defects induced by helium ion (He⁺) bombardment and annealing on the contact resistance between graphene and various metals (Ag, Pd, and Pt) were systematically explored. It is found that the contact resistances between all metals and graphene are remarkably reduced after annealing, indicating that not only chemically adsorbed metal (Pd) but also physically adsorbed metals (Ag and Pt) readily form end-contacts at intrinsic defect locations in graphene. In order to further improve the contact properties between Ag, Pd, and Pt metals and graphene, a novel method in which self-aligned He⁺ bombardment to induce exotic defects in graphene and subsequent thermal annealing to form end-contacts was proposed. By using this method, the contact resistance is reduced significantly by 15.1% and 40.1% for Ag/graphene and Pd/graphene contacts with He⁺ bombardment compared to their counterparts without He⁺ bombardment. For the Pt/graphene contact, the contact resistance is, however, not reduced as anticipated with He⁺ bombardment and this might be ascribed to either inappropriate He⁺ bombardment dose, or inapplicable method of He⁺ bombardment in reducing contact resistance for Pt/graphene contact. The joint efforts of as-formed end-contacts and excess created defects in graphene are discussed as the cause responsible for the reduction of contact resistance.
Keywords: contact resistance; defects; end-contact; graphene; helium ion bombardment.