Growth of thin graphene layers on stacked SiC surface in ultra high vacuum

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel ultra high vacuum technique using stacked SiC substrates to produce and control thin graphene layers on SiC surfaces, with detailed characterization of the growth process.

Contribution

It introduces a stacking configuration that significantly slows graphene growth on SiC in UHV, enabling better control over layer formation.

Findings

Stacked SiC substrates slow graphene growth rate.

Raman and LEED confirm high-quality graphene layers.

Growth control improves with stacking configuration.

Abstract

We demonstrate a technique to produce thin graphene layers on C-face of SiC under ultra high vacuum conditions. A stack of two SiC substrates comprising a half open cavity at the interface is used to partially confine the depleted Si atoms from the sample surface during the growth. We observe that this configuration significantly slows the graphene growth to easily controllable rates on C-face SiC in UHV environment. Results of low-energy electron diffractometry and Raman spectroscopy measurements on the samples grown with stacking configuration are compared to those of the samples grown by using bare UHV sublimation process.