(Invited) Epitaxial Formation of Graphene on Si Substrates: From Heteroepitaxy of 3C-SiC to Si Sublimation

Abstract

Epitaxial graphene can be formed on Si substrates by a vacuum annealing of a 3C-SiC thin film preformed on Si substrate. In this graphene-on-silicon (GOS) method, graphene grows on three major low-index planes of Si substrates: Si(111), (110), and (100). Despite the difference in the quality of the SiC film depending on the orientation, the quality of the formed graphene shows very little variation, leaving the growth mechanism of graphene on cubic SiC crystals open to future studies. The growth rate of graphene, however, shows a sharp dependence on the orientation, which increases in the order of (111) < (001) < (110).