AFM study of ridges in few-layer epitaxial graphene grown on the carbon-face of 4H-SiC(000(1)over-bar)

Gyan Prakash, Purdue University - Main Campus
Michael A. Capano, Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University
Michael Bolen, Purdue University
Dmitry Zemlyanov, Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University
R. Reifenberger, Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University

Date of this Version

8-2010

Citation

Carbon Volume 48, Issue 9, August 2010, Pages 2383–2393

This document has been peer-reviewed.

 

Abstract

A characterization of the graphitic overlayer that forms on 4H-SiC(000 (1) over bar) substrates heated for ten minutes to temperatures T > 1350 degrees C under vacuum conditions has been performed. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of the C-face reveals the presence of graphitic carbon with a thickness that increases with growth temperature. Parallel atomic force microscope (AFM) studies find a mesh-like network of ridges with high curvature that bound atomically flat, tile-like facets of few-layer graphene (FLG). By imaging the network that develops on FLG, it is possible to map out the regions where the elastic energy is concentrated.

Discipline(s)

Engineering | Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

 

Share