Orientation-sensitive nonlinear growth of graphene: An epitaxial growth mechanism determined by geometry

Abstract

Although the corresponding carbon-metal interactions can be very different, a similar nonlinear growth behavior of graphene has been observed for different metal substrates. To understand this interesting experimental observation, a multiscale ``standing-on-the-front'' kinetic Monte Carlo study is performed. An extraordinary robust geometry effect is identified, which solely determines the growth kinetics and makes the details of carbon-metal interaction not relevant at all. Based on such a geometry-determined mechanism, the epitaxial growth behavior of graphene can be easily predicted in many cases. As an example, the orientation-sensitive growth kinetics of graphene on an Ir(111) surface has been studied. Our results demonstrate that the lattice mismatch pattern at the atomic level plays an important role in macroscopic epitaxial growth.