Graphene-on-Silicon Formation by Thermal Conversion of 3C-SiC Thin Films on Si(111), (110), (100) Substrates

Abstract

Graphene can be formed on Si substrates by annealing a 3C-SiC thin film on Si substrate in UHV at the temperature of 1250oC or higher. In this graphene-on-silicon (GOS) method, graphene grows on three major low-index planes of Si(111), (110), and (100). By using SEM, AFM, EBSD, and TEM, we have investigated changes in the quality of SiC films during graphitization, and have confirmed impacts of the crystallographic orientation on the changes;the SiC thin film on the Si(100) substrate is of highest quality after graphitization. The number of graphene layers also depends on the orientation, which varies in the order of Si(110) > (100) > (111). In contrast, the quality of graphene, as judged by Raman-scattering spectroscopy, is not so much affected by the orientation, i.e. by the quality of the SiC thin film in its macroscopic level.