Electronic decoupling of an epitaxial graphene monolayer by gold intercalation

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that gold intercalation can effectively decouple epitaxial graphene from its substrate, restoring its ideal electronic properties and enhancing its suitability for electronic device applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method of gold intercalation to decouple epitaxial graphene from silicon carbide substrates, improving its electronic quality.

Findings

Gold intercalation successfully decouples graphene from the substrate.

Decoupled graphene exhibits restored sp2 hybridization.

Electronic properties of graphene are significantly improved.

Abstract

The application of graphene in electronic devices requires large scale epitaxial growth. The presence of the substrate, however, usually reduces the charge carrier mobility considerably. We show that it is possible to decouple the partially sp3-hybridized first graphitic layer formed on the Si-terminated face of silicon carbide from the substrate by gold intercalation, leading to a completely sp2-hybridized graphene layer with improved electronic properties.