Comparison of the formation process and properties of epitaxial graphenes on Si- and C-face 6Hben SiC substrates

In this paper, the epitaxial graphene layers grown on Si- and C-face 6H-SiC substrates are investigated under a low pressure of 400 Pa at 1600 ℃. By using atomic force microscopy and Raman spectroscopy, we find that there are distinct differences in the formation and the properties between the epitaxial graphene layers grown on the Si-face and the C-face substrates, including the hydrogen etching process, the stacking type, and the number of layers. Hopefully, our results will be useful for improving the quality of the epitaxial graphene on SiC substrate.     

不同极性6H-SiC表面石墨烯的制备及其电子结构的研究

在超高真空设备中,采用高温退火的方法在6H-SiC两个极性面(0001)和(000 1 - )面(即Si面和C面)外延石墨烯(EG). 利用低能电子衍射(LEED)和同步辐射光电子能谱(SRPES)对样品的生长过程进行了原位研究,而后利用激光拉曼光谱(Raman)和近边X射线吸收精细结构(XANES)等实验技术对制备的样品进行了表征. 结果表明我们在两种极性面均制备出了质量较好的石墨烯样品. 而有关两种石墨烯的对比性研究发现:Si面EG呈同一取向而C面EG呈各向异性;Si面EG与衬底存在类似 关键词： 石墨烯 6H-SiC 同步辐射 电子结构     

Intercalation of metals and silicon at the interface of epitaxial graphene and its substrates

Intercalations of metals and silicon between epitaxial graphene and its substrates are reviewed. For metal intercala- tion, seven different metals have been successfully intercalated at the interface of graphene/Ru（O001） and form different intercalated structures. Meanwhile, graphene maintains its original high quality after the intercalation and shows features of weakened interaction with the substrate. For silicon intercalation, two systems, graphene on Ru（O001） and on Ir（l I 1）, have been investigated. In both cases, graphene preserves its high quality and regains its original superlative properties after the silicon intercalation. More importantly, we demonstrate that thicker silicon layers can be intercalated at the interface, which allows the atomic control of the distance between graphene and the metal substrates. These results show the great potential of the intercalation method as a non-damaging approach to decouple epitaxial graphene from its substrates and even form a dielectric layer for future electronic applications.     

Transport characteristics of a single-layer graphene field-effect transistor grown on 4H-silicon carbide

We have investigated transport characteristics of epitaxial graphene grown on semi-insulating silicon-face 4H-silicon carbide (SiC) substrate by thermal decomposition method in relatively high N₂ pressure atmosphere. We have succeeded in forming 1–2 layers of graphene on SiC in controlled manner. The surface morphology of formed graphene was analyzed by atomic force microscopy (AFM), low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) and low-energy electron microscope (LEEM). We have confirmed single-layer graphene growth in average by this method. Top-gated, single-layer graphene field-effect transistors (FETs) were fabricated on epitaxial graphene grown on 4H-SiC. Increased on/off ratio of nearly 100 at low temperature and extremely small minimum conductance (0.018–0.3 in 4 e²/h) in gated Hall-bar samples suggest possible band-gap opening of single-layer epitaxial graphene grown on Si-face SiC.     

Ultrafast relaxation of excited Dirac fermions in epitaxial graphene using optical differential transmission spectroscopy

We investigate the ultrafast relaxation dynamics of hot Dirac fermionic quasiparticles in multilayer epitaxial graphene using ultrafast optical differential transmission spectroscopy. We observe differential transmission spectra which are well described by interband transitions with no electron-hole interaction. Following the initial thermalization and emission of high-energy phonons, the electron cooling is determined by electron-acoustic phonon scattering, found to occur on the time scale of 1 ps for highly doped layers, and 4-11 ps in undoped layers. The spectra also provide strong evidence for the multilayer structure and doping profile of thermally grown epitaxial graphene on SiC.     

Si面4H-SiC衬底上外延石墨烯近平衡态制备

SiC热解法是制备大面积、高质量石墨烯的理想选择之一.外延石墨烯的晶体质量仍是制约其应用的关键因素之一.本文通过SiC热解法在4H-SiC(0001)衬底上制备单层外延石墨烯.通过引入氩气惰性气氛和硅蒸气,使SiC衬底表面的Si原子升华与返回概率接近平衡,外延石墨烯生长速率大大减慢,单层石墨烯的生长时间从15 min延长至75 min.测试分析表明,生长速率减慢,外延石墨烯中缺陷减少,晶体质量提高,使得外延石墨烯的电性能都得到改善,单层外延石墨烯的最高载流子迁移率达到1200 cm2/V·s,方阻604?/.以上结果表明,控制生长气氛,减慢生长速率是实现高质量外延石墨烯的可行途径之一.     

介电层表面直接生长石墨烯的研究进展

作为21世纪备受瞩目的材料,石墨烯兼具优异的电、热、光与力学性质,具有十分广阔的研究价值与应用价值.目前主要通过在金属基底上生长获得石墨烯,并将其转移至目标介电层基底上以构筑电子器件.转移过程不可避免地引入了褶皱、裂纹、破损以及聚合物/金属残留,严重损害了石墨烯的性能.因而直接在介电基底上制备高质量的石墨烯薄膜具有重要意义.本文总结了近年来在介电衬底上直接生长石墨烯的研究进展:阐述了金属辅助法、等离子体增强法以及热力学或动力学调控法等多种生长手段;介绍了多种介电/绝缘基底包括SiO_2/Si,Al_2O_3,SrTiO_3,h-BN,SiC,Si_3N_4以及玻璃表面生长石墨烯的特点与性能,分析了其可能的生长机理.根据拉曼谱图、薄层电阻、透光率、载流子迁移率等评估指标,将多种方法得到的石墨烯质量进行了总结与比较,并提出了直接在介电衬底上生成石墨烯的研究难点与趋势.     

Why multilayer graphene on 4H-SiC(0001[over ]) behaves like a single sheet of graphene

We show experimentally that multilayer graphene grown on the carbon terminated SiC(0001[over ]) surface contains rotational stacking faults related to the epitaxial condition at the graphene-SiC interface. Via first-principles calculation, we demonstrate that such faults produce an electronic structure indistinguishable from an isolated single graphene sheet in the vicinity of the Dirac point. This explains prior experimental results that showed single-layer electronic properties, even for epitaxial graphene films tens of layers thick.     

Heteroepitaxial GaN films on silicon substrates with porous buffer layers

New complex buffer layers based on a porous material have been developed for epitaxial growth of GaN films on Si substrates. The characteristics of gallium nitride heteroepitaxial layers grown on silicon substrates with new buffer layers by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy are investigated. It is shown that the porous buffer layers improve the electric homogeneity and increase the photoluminescence intensity of epitaxial GaN films on Si substrates to the values comparable with those for reference GaN films on Al₂O₃ substrates. It is found that a fianite layer in a complex buffer is a barrier for silicon diffusion from the substrate into a GaN film.     

AlGaN/GaN heterostructure grown on 1 -tilt sapphire substrate by MOCVD

AlGaN/GaN epitaxial layers were grown on 0^°-tilt and 1^°-tilt sapphire substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). With exactly the same growth conditions, it was found that dislocation density was smaller and crystal quality was better for the AlGaN/GaN epitaxial layers prepared on 1^°-tilt sapphire substrate. We also found that AlGaN/GaN epitaxial layers on 1^°-tilt sapphire substrate were grown with step growth mode while those on 0^°-tilt substrate were grown with two-dimensional island growth. From the temperature-dependent mobility, it was found that crystal quality of the AlGaN/GaN epitaxial layer prepared on 1^°-tilt sapphire substrate is better.     

Photoconductive response of GaAs epitaxial layers

In the present work the photoconductive response of low resistivity, n-type GaAs epitaxial layers is studied by experimentally monitoring the dependence of the photoconductive gain (PG) optoelectronic parameter upon incident photon flux and temperature. The characterized samples fall into three major categories: ion implanted (II) GaAs epilayers formed within undoped, semi-insulating GaAs substrates; GaAs epitaxial layers grown by liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) on Cr-doped, semi-insulating GaAs substrates; and ungated GaAs MESFETs.     

Determination of strain and composition in SiC/Si and AlN/Si heterostructures by FTIR-ellipsometry

Heteroepitaxially grown 3C-SiC and 2H-AlN layers on Ge modified Si(111) substrates were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry. The obtained phonon frequencies increase with increasing Ge pre-deposition indicating a decrease of the residual stress in both wide band gap materials. Additionally, it is shown that infrared ellipsometry allows the analysis of the polytype content of the grown epitaxial layers.     

The thermodynamics of electrons and the thermoelectric transport in epitaxial graphene on the size-quantized films

We investigated the thermodynamic parameters (chemical potential, heat capacity and thermodynamic potential) and a thermoelectric transport in an epitaxial graphene on the size-quantized metal and semiconductor films within the framework of simple analytical model. We considered limiting cases of high and low temperatures. We showed that the chemical potential of epitaxial graphene is smaller than the chemical potential of isolated graphene at the same carrier concentration. Conversely, the heat capacity of the epitaxial graphene is greater than the heat capacity of the isolated graphene. We investigated a conductivity and thermopower of the epitaxial graphene. We showed that in such system there are the kinks of conductivity and peaks of thermoelectric power. These peaks are several times greater than those of isolated graphene. We compared our system with cases of 2D and 3D substrates.     

Effect of surface morphology on the electron mobility of epitaxial graphene grown on 0° and 8° Si-terminated 4H-SiC substrates

Graphene with different surface morphologies were fabricated on 8° -off-axis and on-axis 4H-SiC(0001) substrates by high-temperature thermal decompositions. Graphene grown on Si-terminated 8° -off-axis 4H-SiC(0001) shows lower Hall mobility than the counterpart of on-axis SiC substrates. The terrace width is not responsible for the different electron mobility of graphene grown on different substrates, as the terrace width is much larger than the mean free path of the electrons. The electron mobility of graphene remains unchanged with an increasing terrace width on Siterminated on-axis SiC. Interface scattering and short-range scattering are the main factors affecting the mobility of epitaxial graphene. After the optimization of the growth process, the Hall mobility of the graphene reaches 1770 cm 2 /V·s at a carrier density of 9.8.×10 12 cm 2 . Wafer-size graphene was successfully achieved with an excellent double-layer thickness uniformity of 89.7% on a 3-inch SiC substrate.     

Structural defects in 6H-SiC substrates and their effect on the sublimation growth of epitaxial layers in vacuum

The structural perfection of silicon carbide substrates and homoepitaxial layers grown on the substrates by sublimation has been studied by x-ray diffraction (topography and diffractometry) and optical microscopy. The optimum diffraction conditions (hkil reflections, radiation wavelength λ, and recording geometry) for revealing “micropipes” of the dislocation nature are determined. It is shown that the growth conditions used make it possible to obtain highly perfect epitaxial layers.     

The dependence of the strain effects on the ZnTe layer thicknesses in ZnTe/GaAs heterostructures

Photoluminescence (PL) and spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements on ZnTe/GaAs strained heterostructures grown by molecular beam epitaxy were carried out to investigate the strain effect depending on the ZnTe epitaxial layer thickness. PL spectra show that the PL peaks corresponding to the excitons bound to neutral acceptors shift toward the higher-energy side with increasing the ZnTe film thickness. As the strain increases, the value of the critical-point energy shift obtained from the spectroscopic ellipsomerty increases. The strains in the ZnTe layers grown on GaAs substrates are expected to decrease with increasing the ZnTe layer thickness. These results indicate that the strains in the ZnTe layers grown on GaAs substrates are strongly dependent on the ZnTe layer thickness.     

Calculation of electron spectra and some problems in the thermodynamics of graphene layers

The expressions for the energy spectra of monolayer, bilayer, and multilayer graphene, as well as epitaxial graphene, are derived using the quantum Green’s functions method. Analytic expressions are obtained for the densities of states of these systems. It is shown that a bandgap can appear the spectrum of an epitaxial graphene bilayer. A number of problems in the thermodynamics of electrons in free and epitaxial graphene layers are considered as applications. Analytic expressions are obtained for the chemical potential and heat capacity in the limiting cases of low and high temperatures. Quantum oscillations of heat capacity in graphene are analyzed taking into account the Coulomb interaction. The Berry phase of epitaxial graphene is investigated.     

The coalescence of silicon layers grown over SiO2 by liquid-phase epitaxy

The coalescence of epitaxial silicon layers which are grown laterally over oxidized and patterned Si substrates is studied using various techniques of transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The epitaxial layers, the seam of coalescence and lattice defects formed by the coalescence are characterized. The epitaxial layer as a whole is found to be bent with respect to the substrate. Such misorientations, together with facetting of the growth fronts of the coalescing layers, may lead to the formation of solvent inclusions, dislocations and stacking faults at the seam of coalescence. However, under favourable conditions, the seam is found to be entirely defect-free.     

Structural analysis of PTCDA monolayers on epitaxial graphene with ultra-high vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy and high-resolution X-ray reflectivity

Epitaxial graphene, grown by thermal decomposition of the SiC (0001) surface, is a promising material for future applications due to its unique and superlative electronic properties. However, the innate chemical passivity of graphene presents challenges for integration with other materials for device applications. Here, we present structural characterization of epitaxial graphene functionalized by the organic semiconductor perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA). A combination of ultra-high vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and high-resolution X-ray reflectivity (XRR) is used to extract lateral and vertical structures of 0, 1, and 2 monolayer (ML) PTCDA on epitaxial graphene. Both Fienup-based phase-retrieval algorithms and model-based least-squares analyses of the XRR data are used to extract an electron density profile that is interpreted in terms of a stacking sequence of molecular layers with specific interlayer spacings. Features in the STM and XRR analysis indicate long-range molecular ordering and weak π–π* interactions binding PTCDA molecules to the graphene surface. The high degree of both lateral and vertical ordering of the self-assembled film demonstrates PTCDA functionalization as a viable route for templating graphene for the growth and deposition of additional materials required for next-generation electronics and sensors.