Evolution of epitaxial graphene layers on 3C SiC/Si (111) as a function of annealing temperature in UHV

• Published in: Carbon (New York) 2014-03, Vol.68, p.563-572
• Main Authors: Gupta, B., Notarianni, M., Mishra, N., Shafiei, M., Iacopi, F., Motta, N.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Annealing; Cold working, work hardening; annealing, quenching, tempering, recovery, and recrystallization; textures; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Epitaxial growth; Evolution; Exact sciences and technology; Graphene; Materials science; Physics; Scanning tunneling microscopy; Silicon carbide; Silicon substrates; Treatment of materials and its effects on microstructure and properties; X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
• ISSN: 0008-6223; 1873-3891
• DOI: 10.1016/j.carbon.2013.11.035

The growth of graphene on SiC/Si substrates is an appealing alternative to the growth on bulk SiC for cost reduction and to better integrate the material with Si based electronic devices. In this paper, we present a thorough in situ study of the growth of epitaxial graphene on 3C SiC (111)/Si (111) substrates via high temperature annealing (ranging from 1125 to 1375°C) in ultra high vacuum (UHV). The quality and number of graphene layers have been investigated by using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), while the surface characterization have been studied by Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy (STM). Ex-situ Raman spectroscopy measurements confirm our findings, which demonstrate the exponential dependence of the number of graphene layers on the annealing temperature.