“…It has been reported that the initial growth process is much different between the graphene formation on the SiC Si-face and that of CNTs on the SiC C-face; low-energy electron microscopy studies have shown that on the SiC Si-face, the formation of graphene layers starts at the step edges of the SiC surface by desorption of Si atoms and proceeds in a layer-by-layer growth mode. , In contrast, on the SiC C-face, caplike structures composed of hemispherical graphene layers, that is, “carbon nanocaps”, were formed at the beginning; then, as Si atoms were desorbed, cylindrical parts of CNTs grew into the SiC, followed by the formation of vertically aligned MWCNTs films. ,, However, the formation mechanism of the carbon nanocaps on the SiC C-face remains poorly understood. Several studies have been reported regarding the formation of carbon nanocaps on the SiC C-face using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), , scanning tunneling microscopy, − and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) .…”