Premium
Epitaxial Graphene Growth on the Step‐Structured Surface of Off‐Axis C‐Face 3C‐SiC( 1 ¯ 1 ¯ 1 ¯ )
Author(s) -
Shi Yuchen,
Zakharov Alexei A.,
Ivanov Ivan Gueorguiev,
Yazdi Gholamreza,
Syväjärvi Mikael,
Yakimova Rositsa,
Sun Jianwu
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
physica status solidi (b)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1521-3951
pISSN - 0370-1972
DOI - 10.1002/pssb.201900718
Subject(s) - graphene , low energy electron microscopy , materials science , raman spectroscopy , monolayer , low energy electron diffraction , annealing (glass) , graphene nanoribbons , electron diffraction , optoelectronics , diffraction , nanotechnology , electron microscope , optics , composite material , physics
Graphene layers grown on the C‐face SiC exhibit quite different structural and electronic properties compared with those grown on the Si‐face SiC. Herein, the growth and structural properties of graphene on the off‐axis C‐face 3C‐SiC( 1 ¯ 1 ¯ 1 ¯ ) are studied. The as‐grown 4° off‐axis 3C‐SiC( 1 ¯ 1 ¯ 1 ¯ ) exhibits highly periodic steps with step height of ≈0.75 nm and terrace width of ≈50 nm. After annealing at 1800 °C under 850 mbar argon atmosphere, relatively uniform large graphene domains can be grown. The low‐energy electron microscopy (LEEM) results demonstrate that one monolayer (ML) to four‐ML graphene domains are grown over several micrometers square, which enables us to measure micro low‐energy electron diffraction (μ‐LEED) on the single graphene domain. The μ‐LEED pattern collected on the monolayer domain mainly exhibits four sets of graphene (1 × 1) spots, indicating the presence of graphene grains with different azimuthal orientations in the same graphene sheet. Raman spectra collected on the graphene domains show rather small D peaks, indicating the presence of less defects and higher crystalline quality of the graphene layers grown on the C‐face off‐axis 3C‐SiC( 1 ¯ 1 ¯ 1 ¯ ).