Bottom-up growth of epitaxial graphene on 6H-SiC(0001)

Han Huang; Wei Chen; Shi Chen; Andrew Thye Shen Wee

doi:10.1021/nn800711v

Bottom-up growth of epitaxial graphene on 6H-SiC(0001)

ACS Nano. 2008 Dec 23;2(12):2513-8. doi: 10.1021/nn800711v.

Authors

Han Huang¹, Wei Chen, Shi Chen, Andrew Thye Shen Wee

Affiliation

¹ Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, 2 Science Drive 3, Singapore.

PMID: 19206286
DOI: 10.1021/nn800711v

Abstract

We use in situ low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to investigate the growth mechanism of epitaxial graphene (EG) thermally grown on Si-terminated 6H-SiC(0001). Our detailed study of the transition from monolayer EG to trilayer EG reveals that EG adopts a bottom-up growth mechanism. The thermal decomposition of one single SiC bilayer underneath the EG layers causes the accumulation of carbon atoms to form a new graphene buffer layer at the EG/SiC interface. Atomically resolved STM images show that the top EG layer is physically continuous across the boundaries between the monolayer and bilayer EG regions and between the bilayer and trilayer EG regions.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Carbon Compounds, Inorganic / chemistry*
Graphite / chemistry*
Microscopy, Scanning Tunneling
Nanostructures / chemistry*
Nanotechnology
Silicon Compounds / chemistry*

Substances

Carbon Compounds, Inorganic
Silicon Compounds
Graphite
silicon carbide