Ten-Second Epitaxy of Cu on Repeatedly Used Sapphire for Practical Production of High-Quality Graphene

Epitaxial copper (Cu) films yield graphene with superior quality but at high cost. We report 1-3 μm thick epitaxial Cu films prepared on c plane sapphire substrates in 10-30 s, which is much faster than that of the typical sputtering method. Such rapid deposition is realized by vapor deposition using a Cu source heated to 1700-1800 °C, which is much higher than its melting point of 1085 °C. Continuous graphene films, either bilayer or single-layer, are obtained on the epitaxial Cu by chemical vapor deposition and transferred to carrier substrates. The sapphire substrates can be reused five to six times maintaining the quality of the epitaxial Cu films and graphene. The mechanisms and requirements are discussed for such quick epitaxy of Cu on reused sapphire, which will enable high-quality graphene production at lower cost.