Electron Diffraction Study of Epitaxial Graphene Structure Grown upon SiC (0001) Thermal Destruction in Ar Atmosphere and in High Vacuum

Abstract

We have studied the structure of epitaxial graphene obtained as a result of thermal desorption of the silicon carbide surface under conditions of vacuum synthesis and in Ar medium by reflection electron diffraction. As a result of the study, a significantly more uniform buffer layer coating of the SiC surface by epitaxial graphene has been found when forming in inert medium on the surface of 4H- and 6H-SiC(0001) polytypes compared with the synthesis of graphene in high vacuum. The quality of the coating has been shown to depend on the degree of perfection of the original single crystal.