Using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and Fourier Transform STM (FT-STM), we have studied a point defect in an epitaxial graphene sample grown on silicon carbide substrate. This analysis allows us to extract the quasiparticle energy dispersion, and to give a first experimental proof of the validity of Fermi liquid theory in graphene for a wide range of energies from -800 meV to +800 meV. We also find evidence of a strong threefold anisotropy in the standing waves generated by the defect. We discuss possible relations between this anisotropy, the chirality of the electrons, and the asymmetry between graphene's two sublattices. All experimental measurements are compared and related to theoretical T-matrix calculations.
This article presents a review of epitaxial graphene on silicon carbide, from fabrication to properties, put in the context of other forms of graphene.
Additional component in multi-layer epitaxial graphene grown on the C-terminated surface of SiC, which exhibits the characteristic electronic properties of a AB-stacked graphene bilayer, is identified in magneto-optical response of this material. We show that these inclusions represent a well-defined platform for accurate magneto-spectroscopy of unperturbed graphene bilayers.
We investigate the transport properties of high-quality single-layer graphene, epitaxially grown on a 6H-SiC(0001) substrate. We have measured transport properties, in particular charge carrier density, mobility, conductivity and magnetoconductance of large samples as well as submicrometer-sized Hall bars which are entirely lying on atomically flat substrate terraces. The results display high mobilities, independent of sample size and a Shubnikov-de Haas effect with a Landau level spectrum of single-layer graphene. When gated close to the Dirac point, the mobility increases substantially, and …
Epitaxial graphene films were formed on the Si-face of semi-insulating 4H-SiC substrates by a high temperature sublimation process. A high-k gate stack on epitaxial graphene is realized by inserting a fully oxidized nanometer thin aluminum film as a seeding layer followed by an atomic-layer deposition process. The electrical properties of epitaxial graphene films are sustained after gate stack formation without significant degradation. At low temperatures, the quantum-Hall effect in Hall resistance is observed along with pronounced Shubnikov-de Hass oscillations in diagonal magneto-resistance …
Magnetotransport measurements on Hall bar devices fabricated on purely monolayer epitaxial graphene on Silicon Carbide (SiC/G) show a very tight spread in carrier concentration and mobility across wafer- size dimensions. In contrast, SiC/G devices containing bilayer graphene domains display variations in their electronic properties linked to the amount of bilayer content.
Since its inception in 2001, the science and technology of epitaxial graphene on hexagonal silicon carbide has matured into a major international effort and is poised to become the first carbon electronics platform. A historical perspective is presented and the unique electronic properties of single and multilayered epitaxial graphenes on electronics grade silicon carbide are reviewed. Early results on transport and the field effect in Si-face grown graphene monolayers provided proof-of-principle demonstrations. Besides monolayer epitaxial graphene, attention is given to C-face grown multilaye…
Epitaxial graphene grown on SiC by the confinement controlled sublimation method is reviewed, with an emphasis on multilayer and monolayer epitaxial graphene on the carbon face of 4H-SiC and on directed and selectively grown structures under growth-arresting or growth-enhancing masks. Recent developments in the growth of templated graphene nanostructures are also presented, as exemplified by tens of micron long very well confined and isolated 20-40nm wide graphene ribbons. Scheme for large scale integration of ribbon arrays with Si wafer is also presented.
We separate localization and interaction effects in epitaxial graphene devices grown on the C-face of a 4H-SiC substrate by analyzing the low temperature conductivities. Weak localization and antilocalization are extracted at low magnetic fields, after elimination of a geometric magnetoresistance and subtraction of the magnetic field dependent Drude conductivity. The electron electron interaction correction is extracted at higher magnetic fields, where localization effects disappear. Both phenomena are weak but sizable and of the same order of magnitude. If compared to graphene on silicon diox…
The temperature-induced shift of the Raman G line in epitaxial graphene on SiC and Ni surfaces, as well as in graphene supported on SiO2, is investigated with Raman spectroscopy. The thermal shift rate of epitaxial graphene on 6H-SiC(0001) is found to be about three times that of freestanding graphene. This result is explained quantitatively as a consequence of pinning by the substrate. In contrast, graphene grown on polycrystalline Ni films is shown to be unpinned, i.e., to behave elastically as freestanding, despite the relatively strong interaction with the metal substrate. Moreover, it is …
Growth of large-scale graphene is still accompanied by imperfections. By means of a four-tip STM/SEM the local structure of graphene grown on SiC(0001) was correlated with scanning electron microscope images and spatially resolved transport measurements. The systematic variation of probe spacings and substrate temperature has clearly revealed two-dimensional transport regimes of Anderson localization as well as of diffusive transport. The detailed analysis of the temperature dependent data demonstrates that the local on-top nano-sized contacts do not induce significant strain to the epitaxial …
We perform density functional theory calculations for the determination of the structural and electronic properties of epitaxial graphene on 4H-SiC(000$\bar{1}$). Using commensurate supercells that minimize non-physical stresses we show that, in contrast with Si-face epitaxial films, the first graphene layer that forms on the C-face of SiC is purely metallic with its $π$-bands partially preserved. Typical free-standing characteristics are fully recovered with a second graphene layer. We moreover discuss on the magnetic properties of the interface and the absence of Fermi-level pinning effects …
We report on the fabrication and characterization of vertical spin-valve structures using a thick epitaxial MgO barrier as spacer layer and a graphene-passivated Ni film as bottom ferromagnetic electrode. The devices show robust and scalable tunnel magnetoresistance, with several changes of sign upon varying the applied bias voltage. These findings are explained by a model of phonon-assisted transport mechanisms that relies on the peculiarity of the band structure and spin density of states at the hybrid graphene|Ni interface.
We developed an easy, upscalable process to prepare lateral spin-valve devices on epitaxially grown monolayer graphene on SiC(0001) and perform nonlocal spin transport measurements. We observe the longest spin relaxation times tau_S in monolayer graphene, while the spin diffusion coefficient D_S is strongly reduced compared to typical results on exfoliated graphene. The increase of tau_S is probably related to the changed substrate, while the cause for the small value of D_S remains an open question.
We determine conditions for the formation of compressible stripes near the quantum Hall effect (QHE) edges of top-gated epitaxial graphene on Si-terminated SiC (G/SiC) and compare those to graphene exfoliated onto insulating substrate in the field-effect-transistor (GraFET) geometry. For G/SiC, a large density of localised surface states on SiC just underneath graphene layer and charge transfer between them lead both to doping of graphene and to screening of potential profile near its edge. This suppresses formation of compressible stripes near QHE edges in graphene, making them much narrower …
In this letter we report on transport measurements of epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001) with oxygen adsorption. In a $50\times 50 μ\mathrm{m^2}$ size Hall bar we observe the half-integer quantum Hall effect with a transverse resistance plateau quantized at filling factor around $ν= 2$, an evidence of monolayer graphene. We find low electron concentration of $9\times 10^{11} \textrm{cm}^{-2}$ and we show that a doping of $10^{13}\textrm{cm}^{-2}$ which is characteristic of intrinsic epitaxial graphene can be restored by vacuum annealing. The effect of oxygen adsorption on carrier density is confi…
The energy-dependence of the electronic scattering time is probed by Landau level spectroscopy in quasi neutral multilayer epitaxial graphene. From the Landau levels broadening we find that the scattering rate increases linearly with energy. This implies a surprising property of the Landau level spectrum in graphene - the number of the resolved Landau levels remains constant with the applied magnetic field. Insights are given about possible scattering mechanism and carrier mobilities in the graphene system investigated.
We explore the robust quantization of the Hall resistance in epitaxial graphene grown on Si-terminated SiC. Uniquely to this system, the dominance of quantum over classical capacitance in the charge transfer between the substrate and graphene is such that Landau levels (in particular, the one at exactly zero energy) remain completely filled over an extraordinarily broad range of magnetic fields. One important implication of this pinning of the filling factor is that the system can sustain a very high nondissipative current. This makes epitaxial graphene ideally suited for quantum resistance me…
In view of the appreciable semiconducting gap of 0.26 eV observed in recent experiments, epitaxial graphene on a SiC substrate seems a promising channel material for FETs. Indeed, it is two-dimensional - and therefore does not require prohibitive lithography - and exhibits a wider gap than other alternative options, such as bilayer graphene. Here we propose a model and assess the achievable performance of a nanoscale FET based on epitaxial graphene on SiC, conducting an exploration of the design parameter space. We show that the current can be modulated by 4 orders of magnitude; for digital ap…
Magneto-transmission of a thin layer of bulk graphite is compared with spectra taken on multilayer epitaxial graphene prepared by thermal decomposition of a SiC crystal. We focus on the spectral features evolving as \sqrt{B}, which are evidence for the presence of Dirac fermions in both materials. Whereas the results on multi-layer epitaxial graphene can be interpreted within the model of 2D Dirac fermions, the data obtained on bulk graphite can only be explained taking into account the 3D nature of graphite, e.g. by using the standard Slonczewski-Weiss-McClure model.
This letter reports the impact of surface morphology on the carrier transport and RF performance of graphene FETs formed on epitaxial graphene films synthesized on SiC substrates. Such graphene exhibits long terrace structures with widths between 3-5 μm and steps of 10\pm2 nm in height. While a carrier mobility above 3000 cm2/Vs at a carrier density of 1e12 cm-2 is obtained in a single graphene terrace domain at room temperature, the step edges can result in a vicinal step resistance of ~21 kΩ.μm. By orienting the transistor layout so that the entire channel lies within a single graphene terra…
We have observed the well-kown quantum Hall effect (QHE) in epitaxial graphene grown on silicon carbide (SiC) by using, for the first time, only commercial NdFeB permanent magnets at low temperature. The relatively large and homogeneous magnetic field generated by the magnets, together with the high quality of the epitaxial graphene films, enables the formation of well-developed quantum Hall states at Landau level filling factors $ν=\pm 2$, commonly observed with superconducting electro-magnets. Furthermore, the chirality of the QHE edge channels can be changed by a top gate. These results dem…
We present infrared transmission spectroscopy study of the inter-Landau-level excitations in quasi-neutral epitaxial graphene nanoribbon arrays. We observed a substantial deviation in energy of the $L_{0(-1)}$$\to$$L_{1(0)}$ transition from the characteristic square root magnetic-field dependence of two-dimensional graphene. This deviation arises from the formation of upper-hybrid mode between the Landau level transition and the plasmon resonance. In the quantum regime the hybrid mode exhibits a distinct dispersion relation, markedly different from that expected for conventional two-dimensiona…
We introduce a kinetic model for the growth of epitaxial graphene on 6H-SiC. The model applies to vicinal surfaces composed of half-unit-cell height steps where experiment shows that step flow sublimation of SiC promotes the formation and growth of graphene strips parallel to the step edges. The model parameters are effective energy barriers for the nucleation and subsequent propagation of graphene at the step edges. Using both rate equations and kinetic Monte Carlo simulations, two distinct growth regimes emerge from a study of the layer coverage and distribution of top-layer graphene strip w…
Graphene oxide (GO) flakes have been deposited to bridge the gap between two epitaxial graphene electrodes to produce all-graphene devices. Electrical measurements indicate the presence of Schottky barriers (SB) at the graphene/graphene oxide junctions, as a consequence of the band-gap in GO. The barrier height is found to be about 0.7 eV, and is reduced after annealing at 180 $^\circ$C, implying that the gap can be tuned by changing the degree of oxidation. A lower limit of the GO mobility was found to be 850 cm$^2$/Vs, rivaling silicon. {\it In situ} local oxidation of patterned epitaxial gr…
We developed a spin transport model for a diffusive channel with coupled localized states that result in an effective increase of spin precession frequencies and a reduction of spin relaxation times in the system. We apply this model to Hanle spin precession measurements obtained on monolayer epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001) (MLEG). Combined with newly performed measurements on quasi-free-standing monolayer epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001) our analysis shows that the different values for the diffusion coefficient measured in charge and spin transport measurements in MLEG and the high values for …
Precision quantum Hall resistance (QHR) measurements were performed on large-area epitaxial graphene device at low magnetic fields (B = 2 T - 8 T) at temperature T = 1.5 K. Hall resistance was measured using Cryogenic Current Comparator resistance bridge with high biasing current Isd = 40 micro ampere. The results showed that at B = 8 T the relative deviation of Hall resistance from the expected quantized value h/2e2 is within experimental uncertainty of 3.5 parts in 108 and remained below 0.35 parts per million (ppm) down to B = 3 T.
We report development of a quantum Hall resistance standard accurate to a few parts in a billion at 300 mK and based on large area epitaxial graphene. The remarkable precision constitutes an improvement of four orders of magnitude over the best results obtained in exfoliated graphene and is similar to the accuracy achieved in well-established semiconductor standards. Unlike the traditional resistance standards the novel graphene device is still accurately quantized at 4.2 K, vastly simplifying practical metrology. This breakthrough was made possible by exceptional graphene quality achieved wit…
We demonstrate the temperature-mediated and completely reversible process of desorption-readsorption of water on a few layers of epitaxial graphene on a 4H-SiC(0001) substrate. We show that under ambient conditions water forms solid structures on top of the second and third layers of graphene. In the case of strained or highly defective graphene domains, these features produce strongly correlated and reproducible patterns, implying importance of the underlying defects for the initial stages of water adsorption. Hydrophobicity increases with number of graphene layers. Evolution of the water lay…
We report on asymmetric electron-hole decoherence in epitaxial graphene gated by an ionic liquid. The observed negative magnetoresistance near zero magnetic field for different gate voltages, analyzed in the framework of weak localization, gives rise to distinct electron-hole decoherence. The hole decoherence rate increases prominently with decreasing negative gate voltage while the electron decoherence rate does not exhibit any substantial gate dependence. Quantitatively, the hole decoherence rate is as large as the electron decoherence rate by a factor of two. We discuss possible microscopic…
Variable-field Hall measurements were performed on epitaxial graphene grown on Si-face and C-face SiC. The carrier transport involves essentially a single-type of carrier in few-layer graphene, regardless of SiC face. However, in multi-layer graphene (MLG) grown on C-face SiC, the Hall measurements indicated the existence of several groups of carriers with distinct mobilities. Electrical transport in MLG can be properly described by invoking three independent conduction channels in parallel. Two of these are n- and p-type, while the third involves nearly intrinsic graphene. The carriers in thi…
Structured growth of high quality graphene is necessary for technological development of carbon based electronics. Specifically, control of the bunching and placement of surface steps under epitaxial graphene on SiC is an important consideration for graphene device production. We demonstrate lithographically patterned evaporated amorphous carbon corrals as a method to pin SiC surface steps. Evaporated amorphous carbon is an ideal step-flow barrier on SiC due to its chemical compatibility with graphene growth and its structural stability at high temperatures, as well as its patternability. The …
We report the realization of top-gated graphene nanoribbon field effect transistors (GNRFETs) of ~10 nm width on large-area epitaxial graphene exhibiting the opening of a band gap of ~0.14 eV. Contrary to prior observations of disordered transport and severe edge-roughness effects of GNRs, the experimental results presented here clearly show that the transport mechanism in carefully fabricated GNRFETs is conventional band-transport at room temperature, and inter-band tunneling at low temperature. The entire space of temperature, size, and geometry dependent transport properties and electrostat…
The transport properties of epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001) at quantizing magnetic fields are investigated. Devices patterned perpendicularly to SiC terraces clearly exhibit bilayer inclusions distributed along the substrate step edges. We show that the transport properties in the quantum Hall regime are heavily affected by the presence of bilayer inclusions, and observe a significant departure from the conventional quantum Hall characteristics. A quantitative model involving enhanced inter-channel scattering mediated by the presence of bilayer inclusions is presented that successfully explain…
We demonstrate that the carrier concentration of epitaxial graphene devices grown on the C-face of a SiC substrate is efficiently modulated by a buried gate. The gate is fabricated via the implantation of nitrogen atoms in the SiC crystal, 200 nm below the surface, and works well at intermediate temperatures: 40K-80K. The Dirac point is observed at moderate gate voltages (1-20V) depending upon the surface preparation. For temperatures below 40K, the gate is inefficient as the buried channel is frozen out. However, the carrier concentration in graphene remains very close to the value set at T\s…
Quantum Hall effect (QHE) devices based on epitaxial graphene films grown on SiC were fabricated and studied for development of the QHE resistance standard. The graphene-metal contacting area in the Hall devices has been improved and fabricated using a double metalization process. The tested devices had an initial carrier concentration of (0.6 - 10)*10^11 1/cm^2 and showed half-integer quantum Hall effect at a relatively low (3 T) magnetic field. Application of the photochemical gating method and annealing of the sample provides a convenient way for tuning the carrier density to the optimum va…
X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) reveal the magnetic properties of intercalated europium metal under graphene on SiC(0001). Intercalation of Eu nano-clusters (average size 2.5 nm) between graphene and SiC substate are formed by deposition of Eu on epitaxially grown graphene that is subsequently annealed at various temperatures while keeping the integrity of the graphene layer. Using sum-rules analysis of the XMCD of Eu M$_{4,5}$ edges at $T = 15$ K, our samples show paramagnetic-like behavior with distinct anomaly at T $\approx$ 90 K which may be related to the N{è}el transition, T$_N$…
We report the dispersion measurements, using angle-resolved reflection electron-energy-loss-spectroscopy (AREELS), on two-dimensional (2D) plasmons in single and multilayer graphene which couple strongly to surface optical phonon (FK phonon) modes of silicon carbide substrate. The coupled modes show discrete dispersion behaviors in the single and bilayer graphene. With increasing graphene layers on SiC(0001), a transition from plasmon-like dispersion to phonon-like dispersion is observed. For plasmon-like modes, the dispersion is strongly damped by electron-hole pair excitations at entering si…
In this thesis we present a kinetic Monte Carlo model for the description of epitaxial graphene growth. Experimental results suggest a growth mechanism by which clusters of 5 carbon atoms are an intermediate species necessary for nucleation and island growth. This model is proposed by experimentally studying the velocity of growth of islands which is a highly nonlinear function of adatom concentration. In our simulation we incorporate this intermediate species and show that it can explain all other experimental observations: the temperature dependence of the adatom nucleation density, the equi…
Experimental evidence from both spin-valve and quantum transport measurements points towards unexpectedly fast spin relaxation in graphene. We report magnetotransport studies of epitaxial graphene on SiC in a vector magnetic field showing that spin relaxation, detected using weak-localisation analysis, is suppressed by an in-plane magnetic field, $B_{\parallel}$, and thereby proving that it is caused at least in part by spinful scatterers. A non-monotonic dependence of effective decoherence rate on $B_{\parallel}$ reveals the intricate role of scatterers' spin dynamics in forming the interfere…
We study an epitaxial graphene monolayer with bilayer inclusions via magnetotransport measurements and scanning gate microscopy at low temperatures. We find that bilayer inclusions can be metallic or insulating depending on the initial and gated carrier density. The metallic bilayers act as equipotential shorts for edge currents, while closely spaced insulating bilayers guide the flow of electrons in the monolayer constriction, which was locally gated using a scanning gate probe.
Supplementary Information to arXiv:0810.4466: 1. Characterizations of Pb(Zr_0.2Ti_0.8)O_3 (PZT) films. 2. Substrate preparation before the exfoliation of graphene. 3. The band structure of FLG. 4. Dielectric constant measurements of PZT. 5. rho(V_g) and R_H(V_g) fitting inside the band overlap regime. 6. The deformation potential of longitudinal acoustic (LA) phonons in graphene. 7. Resistivity and Hall measurements of a SiO_2-gated FLG.
Monolayer-thick hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is grown on graphene on SiC(0001), by exposure of the graphene to borazine, (BH)3(NH)3, at 1100 C. The h-BN films form ~2-micrometer size grains with a preferred orientation of 30 degrees relative to the surface graphene. Low-energy electron microscopy is employed to provide definitive signatures of the number and composition of two-dimensional (2D) planes across the surface. These grains are found to form by substitution for the surface graphene, with the C atoms produced by this substitution then being incorporated below the h-BN (at the interfa…
We study the effect of SiC substrate on thermal conductivity of epitaxial graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) using the nonequilibrium molecular dynamics method. We show that the substrate has strong interaction with single-layer GNRs during the thermal transport, which largely reduces the thermal conductivity. The thermal conductivity characteristics of suspended GNRs are well preserved in the second GNR layers of bilayer GNR, which has a weak van der Waals interaction with the underlying structures. The out-of-plane phonon mode is found to play a critical role on the thermal conductivity variation o…
We report scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy investigation of graphene nanoribbons grown on an array of bunched steps of a 6H-SiC(0001) substrate. Our scanning tunneling microscopy images of a graphene nanoribbons on a step terrace feature a (sqrt(3)x sqrt(3))R30° pattern of aromatic rings which define our armchair nanoribbons. This is in agreement to a simulation based on density functional theory. As another signature of the one-dimensional electronic structure, in the corresponding scanning tunneling spectroscopy spectra we find well developed, sharp Van Hove singularities.
Graphene-metal contact resistance is governed by both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Intrinsically, both the density of states bottleneck near the Dirac point and carrier reflection at the graphene-metal interface lead to a high contact resistance. Moreover, graphene exhibits insulating behavior for out-of-the-plane conduction. Extrinsically, surface contamination introduced by photoresist residue or different adsorbed species during standard lithography processing alters graphene's intrinsic properties by uncontrolled doping and increased scattering which results in high and inconsistent co…
In this work, low-energy electron microscopy is employed to probe structural as well as electronic information in few-layer WSe$_2$ on epitaxial graphene on SiC. The emergence of unoccupied states in the WSe$_2$--graphene heterostructures are studied using spectroscopic low-energy electron reflectivity. Reflectivity minima corresponding to specific WSe$_2$ states that are localized between the monolayers of each vertical heterostructure are shown to reveal the number of layers for each point on the surface. A theory for the origin of these states is developed and utilized to explain the experi…
We report on polarization selection rules of inter-Landau level transitions using reflection-type optical Hall effect measurements from 600 to 4000 cm-1 on epitaxial graphene grown by thermal decomposition of silicon carbide. We observe symmetric and anti-symmetric signatures in our data due to polarization preserving and polarization mixing inter-Landau level transitions, respectively. From field-dependent measurements we identify that transitions in decoupled graphene mono-layers are governed by polarization mixing selection rules, whereas transitions in coupled graphene mono-layers are gove…
We investigate the low-temperature magneto-transport properties of monolayer epitaxial graphene films formed on the Si-face of semi-insulating 4H-SiC substrates by a high temperature sublimation process. A high-k top-gate on the epitaxial graphene is realized by inserting a fully oxidized nanometer thin aluminum film as a seeding layer, followed by an atomic layer deposition process. At low temperatures, the devices demonstrate a strong field effect by the top gate with an on/off ratio of ~7 and an electron mobility up to ~3250 cm^2/Vs. After the observation of the half-integer quantum Hall ef…
Light absorption in graphene causes a large change in electron temperature, due to low electronic heat capacity and weak electron phonon coupling [1-3], making it very attractive as a hot-electron bolometer material. Unfortunately, the weak variation of electrical resistance with temperature has substantially limited the responsivity of graphene bolometers. Here we show that quantum dots of epitaxial graphene on SiC exhibit an extraordinarily high variation of resistance with temperature due to quantum confinement, higher than 430 Mohm/K at 2.5 K, leading to responsivities for absorbed THz pow…
The carrier mobility μof few-layer graphene (FLG) field-effect transistors increases ten-fold when the SiO_2 substrate is replaced by single-crystal epitaxial Pb(Zr_0.2Ti_0.8)O_3 (PZT). In the electron-only regime of the FLG, μreaches 7x10^4 cm^2/Vs at 300K for n = 2.4x10^12/cm^2, 70% of the intrinsic limit set by longitudinal acoustic (LA) phonons; it increases to 1.4x10^5 cm^2/Vs at low temperature. The temperature-dependent resistivity ρ(T) reveals a clear signature of LA phonon scattering, yielding a deformation potential D = 7.8+/-0.5 eV.
Suspended graphene membrane presents a particular structure with fundamental interests and applications in nanomechanics, thermal transport and optoelectronics. Till now, the commonly used geometries are still quite simple and limited to the microscale. We propose here to overcome this problem by making nanostructures in suspended epitaxial bilayer graphene on a large scale and with a large variety of geometries. We also demonstrate a new hybrid thin film of SiC-graphene with an impressive robustness. Since the mechanics and thermal dissipation of a suspended graphene membrane are strongly rel…
Raman spectra were measured for mono-, bi- and trilayer graphene grown on SiC by solid state graphitization, whereby the number of layers was pre-assigned by angle-resolved ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy. It was found that the only unambiguous fingerprint in Raman spectroscopy to identify the number of layers for graphene on SiC(0001) is the linewidth of the 2D (or D*) peak. The Raman spectra of epitaxial graphene show significant differences as compared to micromechanically cleaved graphene obtained from highly oriented pyrolytic graphite crystals. The G peak is found to be blue-shift…
We study step flow growth of epitaxial graphene on 6H-SiC using a one dimensional kinetic Monte Carlo model. The model parameters are effective energy barriers for the nucleation and propagation of graphene at the SiC steps. When the model is applied to graphene growth on vicinal surfaces, a strip width distribution is used to characterize the surface morphology. Additional kinetic processes are included to study graphene growth on SiC nano-facets. Our main result is that the original nano-facet is fractured into several nano-facets during graphene growth. This phenomenon is characterized by t…
We show that the Landau levels in epitaxial graphene in presence of localized defects are significantly modified compared to those of an ideal system. We report on magneto-spectroscopy experiments performed on high quality samples. Besides typical interband magneto-optical transitions, we clearly observe additional transitions that involve perturbed states associated to short-range impurities such as vacancies. Their intensity is found to decrease with an annealing process and a partial self-healing over time is observed. Calculations of the perturbed Landau levels by using a delta-like potent…
The observation of the anomalous quantum Hall effect in exfoliated graphene flakes triggered an explosion of interest in graphene. It was however not observed in high quality epitaxial graphene multilayers grown on silicon carbide substrates. The quantum Hall effect is shown on epitaxial graphene monolayers that were deliberately grown over substrate steps and subjected to harsh processing procedures, demonstrating the robustness of the epitaxial graphene monolayers and the immunity of their transport properties to temperature, contamination and substrate imperfections. The mobility of the mon…
We review progress in developing epitaxial graphene as a material for carbon electronics. In particular, improvements in epitaxial graphene growth, interface control and the understanding of multilayer epitaxial graphene's electronic properties are discussed. Although graphene grown on both polar faces of SiC is addressed, our discussions will focus on graphene grown on the (000-1) C-face of SiC. The unique properties of C-face multilayer epitaxial graphene have become apparent. These films behave electronically like a stack of nearly independent graphene sheets rather than a thin Bernal-stack…
The maximum oscillation frequency (fmax) quantifies the practical upper bound for useful circuit operation. We report here an fmax of 70 GHz in transistors using epitaxial graphene grown on the C-face of SiC. This is a significant improvement over Si-face epitaxial graphene used in the prior high frequency transistor studies, exemplifying the superior electronics potential of C-face epitaxial graphene. Careful transistor design using a high κ dielectric T-gate and self-aligned contacts, further contributed to the record-breaking fmax.
To determine the friction coefficient of graphene, micro-scale scratch tests are conducted on exfoliated and epitaxial graphene at ambient conditions. The experimental results show that the monolayer, bilayer, and trilayer graphene all yield friction coefficients of approximately 0.03. The friction coefficient of pristine graphene is less than that of disordered graphene, which is treated by oxygen plasma. Ramping force scratch tests are performed on graphene with various numbers of layers to determine the normal load required for the probe to penetrate graphene. A very low friction coefficien…
Local electronic structures of nanometer-sized patches of epitaxial graphene and its interface layer with SiC(0001) have been studied by atomically resolved scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. Localized states belonging to the interface layer of a graphene/SiC system show to have an essential influence on the electronic structure of graphene. Giant enhancement of inelastic tunneling, reaching 50% of the total tunneling current, has been observed at the localized states on a nanometer-sized graphene monolayer surrounded by defects.
High-quality, large-area epitaxial graphene can be grown on metal surfaces but its transport properties cannot be exploited because the electrical conduction is dominated by the substrate. Here we insulate epitaxial graphene on Ru(0001) by a step-wise intercalation of silicon and oxygen, and the eventual formation of a SiO$_2$ layer between the graphene and the metal. We follow the reaction steps by x-ray photoemission spectroscopy and demonstrate the electrical insulation using a nano-scale multipoint probe technique.
