Control of etch pit formation for epitaxial growth of graphene on germanium

Graphene epitaxy on germanium by chemical vapor deposition is a promising approach to integrate graphene into microelectronics, but the synthesis is still accompanied by several challenges such as the high process temperature, the reproducibility of growth, and the formation of etch pits during the process. We show that the substrate cleaning by preannealing in molecular hydrogen, which is crucial to successful and reproducible graphene growth, requires a high temperature and dose. During both substrate cleaning and graphene growth, etch pits can develop under certain conditions and disrupt the synthesis process. We explain the mechanisms how these etch pits may form by preferential evaporation of substrate, how substrate topography is related to the state of the cleaning process, and how etch pit formation during graphene growth can be controlled by choice of a sufficiently high precursor flow. Our study explains how graphene can be grown reliably on germanium at high temperature and thereby lays the foundation for further optimization of the growth process.Graphene epitaxy on germanium by chemical vapor deposition is a promising approach to integrate graphene into microelectronics, but the synthesis is still accompanied by several challenges such as the high process temperature, the reproducibility of growth, and the formation of etch pits during the process. We show that the substrate cleaning by preannealing in molecular hydrogen, which is crucial to successful and reproducible graphene growth, requires a high temperature and dose. During both substrate cleaning and graphene growth, etch pits can develop under certain conditions and disrupt the synthesis process. We explain the mechanisms how these etch pits may form by preferential evaporation of substrate, how substrate topography is related to the state of the cleaning process, and how etch pit formation during graphene growth can be controlled by choice of a sufficiently high precursor flow. Our study explains how graphene can be grown reliably on germanium at high temperature and thereby lays the fou...