Short duration growth of high-quality multi-layered graphene by temperature-controlled rapid heating chemical vapor deposition

Abstract

Chemical vapor deposition using a rapid thermal annealing (RTA) system at atmospheric pressure with diluted methane gas (0.48 vol%)/Ar enabled the growth of high-quality multi-layered graphene on a Cu substrate at 1000 °C within a short time span. The minimum temperature rise time (including the reduction time) and growth time were 300 and 90 s, respectively. These conditions gave graphene films exhibiting 98.6% substrate coverage. The lateral sizes of the resulting graphene domains ranged from 0.2 to 1.2 μm with an average size of 0.46 μm while the film thicknesses were estimated to range from two to several layers based on the Raman 2D/G peak ratios. The Raman D peak indicative of defects was not detected on the graphene films. Precise control of the growth temperature within the range of 900 °C–1000 °C promoted reduction reactions and improved the quality of the graphene.