The aim of this study is to assess femtosecond laser patterning of graphene in air and in vacuum for the application as source and drain electrodes in thin-film transistors (TFTs). The analysis of the laser-patterned graphene with scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and Raman spectroscopy showed that processing in vacuum leads to less debris formation and thus re-deposited carbonaceous material on the sample compared to laser processing in air. It was found that the debris reduction due to patterning in vacuum improves the TFT characteristics significantly. Hysteresis disappears, the mobility is enhanced by an order of magnitude and the subthreshold swing is reduced from S-sub = 2.5 V/dec to S-sub =1.5 V/dec.