Intrinsic and extrinsic corrugation of monolayer graphene deposited on SiO2

TL;DR

This study investigates the surface corrugation of monolayer graphene on SiO2 using microscopy techniques, revealing both substrate-induced and intrinsic rippling effects in the graphene.

Contribution

It demonstrates that graphene exhibits intrinsic rippling on SiO2, with detailed analysis of substrate and graphene corrugation characteristics.

Findings

Long-range substrate corrugation with ~25 nm correlation length

Additional graphene corrugation with ~15 nm wavelength

Intrinsic rippling can occur on SiO2-supported graphene

Abstract

Using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) in ultra high vacuum and atomic force microscopy, we investigate the corrugation of graphene flakes deposited by exfoliation on a Si/SiO2 (300 nm) surface. While the corrugation on SiO2 is long-range with a correlation length of about 25 nm, some of the graphene monolayers exhibit an additional corrugation with a preferential wave length of about 15 nm. A detailed analysis shows that the long range corrugation of the substrate is also visible on graphene, but with a reduced amplitude, leading to the conclusion that the graphene is partly freely suspended between hills of the substrate. Thus, the intrinsic rippling observed previously on artificially suspended graphene can exist as well, if graphene is deposited on SiO2.