The growth of graphene by catalytic decomposition of ethylene on Cu(111) in an ultra-high vacuum system was investigated with low energy electron diffraction, low energy electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. Attempts to form a graphene overlayer using ethylene at pressures as high as 10 mTorr and substrate temperatures as high as 900 • C resulted in almost no graphene growth. By using an argon overpressure, the growth of epitaxial graphene on Cu(111) was achieved.The suppression of graphene growth without the use of an argon overpressure is attributed to Cu sublimation at elevated temperatures. During the initial stages of growth, a random distribution of rounded graphene islands is observed. The predominant rotational orientation of the islands is within ±1 • of the Cu(111) substrate lattice.
Graphene growth on Cu foils by catalytic decomposition of methane forms predominantly singlelayer graphene films due to the low solubility of carbon in Cu. On the other hand, graphene growth on Cu-Ni foils can result in the controlled growth of few-layer graphene films because of the higher solubility of carbon in Ni. One of the key issues for the use of graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition for device applications is the influence of defects on the transport properties of the graphene. For instance, growth on metal foil substrates is expected to result in multidomain graphene growth because of the presence of grains within the foil that exhibit a variety of surface terminations. Therefore, the size and orientation of the grains within the metal foil should influence the defect density of the graphene. For this reason, we have studied the effect of total anneal time and temperature on the orientation and size of grains within Cu foils and Cu-Ni alloy foils with a nominal concentration of 90/10 by weight. The graphene growth procedure involves preannealing the foil in a H 2 background followed by the graphene growth in a CH 4 /H 2 atmosphere. Measurements of the substrate grain size have been performed with optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. These results show typical lateral dimensions ranging from a few millimeters up to approximately a centimeter for Cu foils annealed at 1030 C for 35 min and from tens of microns up to a few hundred microns for the 90/10 Cu-Ni foils annealed at 1050 C for times ranging from 45 to 90 min. The smaller grains within the Cu-Ni foils are attributed to the higher melting point of the Cu-Ni alloy. The crystallographic orientation within each substrate grain was studied with electron backscatter diffraction, and shows that the preferred orientation for the Cu foil is primarily toward the (100) surface plane. For the 90/10 Cu-Ni foils, the orientation of the surface of the grains is initially toward the (110) plane and shifts into an orientation midway between the (100) and (111) planes as the anneal time is increased. V
It is well-known that the performance of graphene electronic devices is often limited by extrinsic scattering related to resist residue from transfer, lithography, and other processes. Here, we report a polymer-assisted fabrication procedure that produces a clean graphene surface following device fabrication by a standard lithography process. The effectiveness of this improved lithography process is demonstrated by examining the temperature dependence of epitaxial graphene-metal contact resistance using the transfer length method for Ti/Au (10 nm/50 nm) metallization. The Landauer-Buttiker model was used to explain carrier transport at the graphene-metal interface as a function of temperature. At room temperature, a contact resistance of 140 Ω-μm was obtained after a thermal anneal at 523 K for 2 hr under vacuum, which is comparable to state-of-the-art values.
Atomically thin two dimensional hexagonal boron nitride (2D h-BN) is one of the key materials in the development of new van der Waals heterostructures due to its outstanding properties including an atomically smooth surface, high thermal conductivity, high mechanical strength, chemical inertness and high electrical resistance. The development of 2D h-BN growth is still in the early stages and largely depends on rapid and accurate characterization of the grown monolayer or few layers h-BN films. This paper demonstrates a new approach to characterizing monolayer h-BN films directly on metal substrates by grazing-incidence infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy (IRRAS). Using h-BN films grown by atmospheric-pressure chemical vapor deposition on Cu and Ni substrates, two new sub-bands are found for the A2u out-of-plane stretching mode. It is shown, using both experimental and computational methods, that the lower-energy sub-band is related to 2D h-BN coupled with substrate, while the higher energy sub-band is related to decoupled (or free-standing) 2D h-BN. It is further shown that this newly-observed fine structure in the A2u mode can be used to assess, quickly and easily, the homogeneity of the h-BN-metal interface and the effects of metal surface contamination on adhesion of the layer.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.