Structural Modifications in Epitaxial Graphene on SiC Following 10 keV Nitrogen Ion Implantation

Abstract

Modification of epitaxial graphene on silicon carbide (EG/SiC) was explored by ion implantation using 10 keV nitrogen ions. Fragments of monolayer graphene along with nanostructures were observed following nitrogen ion implantation. At the initial fluence, sp3 defects appeared in EG; higher fluences resulted in vacancy defects as well as in an increased defect density. The increased fluence created a decrease in the intensity of the prominent peak of SiC as well as of the overall relative Raman intensity. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed a reduction of the peak intensity of graphitic carbon and silicon carbide as a result of ion implantation. The dopant concentration and level of defects could be controlled both in EG and SiC by the fluence. This provided an opportunity to explore EG/SiC as a platform using ion implantation to control defects, and to be applied for fabricating sensitive sensors and nanoelectronics devices with high performance.

Epitaxial Graphene on 4H-SiC (0001) as a Versatile Platform for Materials Growth: Mini-Review

“…Notably, the above-listed examples of sensing applications concern only unmodified pristine epitaxial graphene. At the same time, there is a great deal of interest in epitaxial graphene sensitivity improvement by chemical functionalization [28,29], defect engineering [30,31], and metal oxide nanoparticle decoration [32][33][34].…”

Special Issue “Fundamentals and Recent Advances in Epitaxial Graphene on SiC”

“…Apart from the unintentional doping of epitaxial graphene by environmental gases and other molecules, the electronic properties of epitaxial graphene on SiC can be modulated by the intentional incorporation of external dopants, as was demonstrated in another study [3]. Nitrogen ion implantation was proposed as an instrumental approach to stabilize the n-type conductivity in epitaxial graphene without serious structural damage.…”

“…Two research works touch on crucial aspects of early stage of graphene growth, namely buffer layer formation [1], and graphene quality estimation [2]. Kaushik et al [3] reported on a principal possibility to tune structural and electronic properties of epitaxial graphene through nitrogen ion implantation. Fundamental knowledge on both copper electrodeposition and atomic layer deposition of high-k insulators on epitaxial graphene/SiC is provided by the authors of [4,5].…”

Epitaxy of III-nitrides on two-dimensional materials and its applications

“…Moreover, it has also been proposed in the literature that the epitaxial graphene structure and electronic properties could be tuned by nitrogen ion injection. [64] The graphene obtained by the SiC epitaxial method was very clean and free of contamination or defects from transfer, and could be directly applied to device preparation. However, due to the expensive price of the SiC substrate and the high temperature required for epitaxial preparation, the cost of graphene prepared by SiC epitaxy was expensive.…”