Large-Area Epitaxial Graphene: Effect of Strain and Thickness on Electronic Properties

Abstract

The recent success of graphene transistor operation in the giga-hertz range has solidified the potential of this material for high speed electronic applications. Realization of a graphene technology on the production scale; however, requires the ability to synthesize large area graphene, and rapidly characterize the material's structural and electronic quality. We report a direct link between carrier mobility and Raman topography of epitaxial graphene grown on silicon carbide. We have examined epitaxial graphene with mobility values of 25 - 1100 cm2/V-s, and show that the Hall mobility of epitaxial graphene on the Si-face of SiC (SiC(0001)) is not only highly dependent on thickness uniformity, but also on mono-layer strain uniformity. It is not until the thickness and strain uniformity is approaches 50% of the device width that one is able to achieve mobility values higher than 1000 cm2/V-s.