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An array of gold nano-pillars is fabricated on silicon, before chemical vapor deposited graphene is transferred to the substrate. Intrinsic intersurface attraction pulls the monolayer into intimate contact conforming to the substrate geometry, but the pillars support an array of circular blisters. A simple delamination mechanics model is constructed to extract the materials and interface properties. The graphene-gold interfacial adhesion energy is found to be γ = 450 ± 100 mJ m-2 by measuring the blister dimension. Should the ratio of pillar height to inter-pillar separation falls short of (γ/Eh)1/4 with graphene elastic modulus, E and thickness, h, the blisters stay isolated; otherwise, adjacent blisters coalesce. Critical design guidelines are set for graphene devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a technique to characterize adhesion of monolayered/multilayered graphene sheets on silicon wafer. Nanoparticles trapped at graphene-silicon interface act as point wedges to support axisymmetric blisters. Local adhesion strength is found by measuring the particle height and blister radius using a scanning electron microscope. Adhesion energy of the typical graphene-silicon interface is measured to be 151±28 mJ/m2. The proposed method and our measurements provide insights in fabrication and reliability of microelectromechanical/nanoelectromechanical systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]