An approach to deposit, by a self-aligning process, a layer of graphene on a gate formed on a dielectric layer on a semiconductor substrate where the gate includes a metal catalyst material. The approach includes removing a portion of the dielectric layer and a portion of the semiconductor substrate not under the gate and depositing, by a self-aligning atomic layer deposition process, a layer of a material capable of creating a source and a drain in a semiconductor device on exposed surfaces of the semiconductor substrate and the dielectric layer. The approach includes removing the layer of graphene from the gate, and, then removing a portion of the layer of the material capable of creating the source and the drain in the semiconductor device.