Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-ckgrl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-20T07:01:28.306Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Argon annealing procedure for producing an atomically terraced 4H–SiC (0001) substrate and subsequent graphene growth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 July 2012

Andrew J. Strudwick  and
Christopher H. Marrows
Andrew J. Strudwick
Affiliation:
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, U.K.
Christopher H. Marrows*
Affiliation:
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, U.K.
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: c.h.marrows@leeds.ac.uk
Get access

Abstract

The epitaxial growth of graphene on hexagonal silicon carbide polytypes on both the silicon-terminated (0001) and carbon-terminated ($000\bar 1$) faces has shown promise in the development of large area graphene production. It is important during these growth procedures to ensure that the underlying silicon carbide substrate is well ordered before the graphene growth. Regularly, this involves the use of a hydrogen etching procedure before graphene growth to remove polishing scratches and other defects from the substrate surface. Here, we present evidence that annealing silicon carbide substrates in argon gas at atmospheric pressure suppresses the onset of graphitization up to a temperature of 1500 °C and allows for regularly stepped terraces and removes surface defects. This allows substrate preparation and subsequent graphitization (by increasing the annealing temperature) to be carried out within a single process under an inert gas atmosphere.

Keywords

annealingCscanning probe microscopy (SPM)
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 28 , Issue 1: Focus Issue: Silicon Carbide – Materials, Processing and Devices , 14 January 2013 , pp. 1 - 6
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Peres, N.M.R.: Colloquium: The transport properties of graphene: An introduction. Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 2673–2700 (2010).Google Scholar
Berger, C., Song, Z., Li, T., Li, X., Ogbazghi, A.Y., Feng, R., Dai, Z., Marchenkov, A.N., Conrad, E.H., First, P.N., and de Heer, W.A.: Ultrathin epitaxial graphite: 2D electron gas properties and a route toward graphene-based nanoelectronics. J. Phys. Chem. B 108, 19912 (2004).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forbeaux, I., Themlin, J.M., and Debever, J.M.: High-temperature graphitization of the 6H-SiC face. Surf. Sci. 442, 9 (1999).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emtsev, K.V., Bostwick, A., Horn, K., Jobst, J., Kellogg, G.L., Ley, L., McChesney, J.L., Ohta, T., Reshanov, S.A., Rohrl, J., Rotenberg, E., Schmid, A.K., Waldmann, D., Weber, H.B., and Seyller, T.: Towards wafer-size graphene layers by atmospheric pressure graphitization of silicon carbide. Nat. Mater. 8, 203 (2009).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Virojanadara, C., Syvajarvi, M., Yakimova, R., Johansson, L.I., Zakharov, A.A., and Balasubramanian, T.: Homogeneous large-area graphene layer growth on 6H-SiC(0001). Phys. Rev. B 78, 245403 (2008).Google Scholar
Luxmi, , Srivastava, N., Feenstra, R.M., and Fisher, P.J.: Formation of epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001) using vacuum or argon environments. J. Vac. Sci. Technol., B 28, C5C1–C5C7 (2010).Google Scholar
de Heer, W.A., Berger, C., Ruan, M., Sprinkle, M., Li, X., Hu, Y., Zhang, B., Hankinson, J., and Conrad, E.H.: Large area and structured epitaxial graphene produced by confinement controlled sublimation of silicon carbide. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 41, 16900–16905 (2011).Google Scholar
Luxmi, , Srivastava, N., He, G., Feenstra, R.M., and Fisher, P.J.: Comparison of graphene formation on C-face and Si-face SiC {0001} surfaces. Phys. Rev. B 82, 235406 (2010).Google Scholar
Strudwick, A.J., Creeth, G.L., Johansson, N.A.B., and Marrows, C.H.: Probing residual strain in epitaxial graphene layers on 4H-SiC(0001) with Raman spectroscopy. Appl. Phys. Lett. 98, 051910 (2011).Google Scholar
Creeth, G.L., Strudwick, A.J., Sadowski, J.T., and Marrows, C.H.: Surface morphology and transport studies of epitaxial graphene on SiC($000\bar 1$). Phys. Rev. B 83, 195440 (2011).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gupta, A.K., Nisoli, C., Lammert, P.E., Crespi, V.H., and Eklund, P.C.: Curvature-induced D-band Raman scattering in folded graphene. J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 22, 334205 (2010).Google Scholar
Tuinstra, F. and Koenig, J.L.: Raman spectrum of graphite. J. Chem. Phys. 53, 1126 (1970).Google Scholar
Ferrari, A.C. and Robertson, J.: Interpretation of Raman spectra of disordered and amorphous carbon. Phys. Rev. B 61, 14095 (2000).Google Scholar
Piscanec, S., Lazzeri, M., Robertson, J., Ferrari, A.C., and Mauri, F.: Optical phonons in carbon nanotubes: Kohn anomalies, Peierls distortions, and dynamic effects. Phys. Rev. B 75, 035427 (2007).Google Scholar
Hibino, H., Kageshima, H., and Nagase, M.: Epitaxial few-layer graphene: Towards single crystal growth. J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 43, 374005 (2010).Google Scholar
Ramachandran, V., Brady, M.F., Smith, A.R., Feenstra, R.M., and Greve, D.W.: Preparation of atomically flat surfaces on silicon carbide using hydrogen etching. J. Electron. Mater. 27, 308 (1998).Google Scholar
Saddow, S.E., Kumar, V., Isaacs-Smith, T., Williams, J., Hsieh, A.J., Graves, M., and Wolan, J.T.: Implant anneal process for activating ion implanted regions in SiC epitaxial layers. Trans. Electr. Electron. Mater. 1, 4 (2000).Google Scholar
Ferrer, F.J., Moreau, E., Vignaud, D., Godey, S., and Wallart, X.: Atomic scale flattening, step formation and graphitization blocking on 6H and 4H-SiC(0001) surfaces under Si flux. Semicond. Sci. Technol., 24, 125014 (2009).Google Scholar