Revealing interfacial disorder at the growth-front of thick many-layer epitaxial graphene on SiC: a complementary neutron and X-ray scattering investigation
Abstract
Epitaxial graphene on SiC provides both an excellent source of high-quality graphene as well as an architecture to support its application. Although single-layer graphene on Si-face SiC has garnered extensive interest, many-layer graphene produced on C-face SiC could be significantly more robust for enabling applications. Little is known, however, about the structural properties related to the growth evolution at the buried interface for thick many-layer graphene. Using complementary X-ray scattering and neutron reflectivity as well as electron microscopy, we demonstrate that thick many-layer epitaxial graphene exhibits two vastly different length-scales of the buried interface roughness as a consequence of the Si sublimation that produces the graphene. Over long lateral length-scales the roughness is extremely large (hundreds of Å) and it varies proportionally to the number of graphene layers. In contrast, over much shorter lateral length-scales we observe an atomically abrupt interface with SiC terraces. Graphene near the buried interface exhibits a slightly expanded interlayer spacing (~1%) and fluctuations of this spacing, indicating a tendency for disorder near the growth front. Nevertheless, Dirac cones are observed from the graphene while its domain size routinely reaches micron length-scales, indicating the persistence of high-quality graphene beginning just a short distance away from themore »
- Authors:
-
- Univ. of Missouri, Columbia, MO (United States)
- Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Spallation Neutron Source (SNS)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1546505
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1544448
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Nanoscale
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 11; Journal Issue: 30; Journal ID: ISSN 2040-3364
- Publisher:
- Royal Society of Chemistry
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
Citation Formats
Mazza, A. R., Miettinen, A., Daykin, A. A., He, X., Charlton, T. R., Conrad, M., Guha, S., Lu, Q., Bian, G., Conrad, E. H., and Miceli, P. F. Revealing interfacial disorder at the growth-front of thick many-layer epitaxial graphene on SiC: a complementary neutron and X-ray scattering investigation. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1039/C9NR03504D.
Mazza, A. R., Miettinen, A., Daykin, A. A., He, X., Charlton, T. R., Conrad, M., Guha, S., Lu, Q., Bian, G., Conrad, E. H., & Miceli, P. F. Revealing interfacial disorder at the growth-front of thick many-layer epitaxial graphene on SiC: a complementary neutron and X-ray scattering investigation. United States. https://doi.org/10.1039/C9NR03504D
Mazza, A. R., Miettinen, A., Daykin, A. A., He, X., Charlton, T. R., Conrad, M., Guha, S., Lu, Q., Bian, G., Conrad, E. H., and Miceli, P. F. Tue .
"Revealing interfacial disorder at the growth-front of thick many-layer epitaxial graphene on SiC: a complementary neutron and X-ray scattering investigation". United States. https://doi.org/10.1039/C9NR03504D. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1546505.
@article{osti_1546505,
title = {Revealing interfacial disorder at the growth-front of thick many-layer epitaxial graphene on SiC: a complementary neutron and X-ray scattering investigation},
author = {Mazza, A. R. and Miettinen, A. and Daykin, A. A. and He, X. and Charlton, T. R. and Conrad, M. and Guha, S. and Lu, Q. and Bian, G. and Conrad, E. H. and Miceli, P. F.},
abstractNote = {Epitaxial graphene on SiC provides both an excellent source of high-quality graphene as well as an architecture to support its application. Although single-layer graphene on Si-face SiC has garnered extensive interest, many-layer graphene produced on C-face SiC could be significantly more robust for enabling applications. Little is known, however, about the structural properties related to the growth evolution at the buried interface for thick many-layer graphene. Using complementary X-ray scattering and neutron reflectivity as well as electron microscopy, we demonstrate that thick many-layer epitaxial graphene exhibits two vastly different length-scales of the buried interface roughness as a consequence of the Si sublimation that produces the graphene. Over long lateral length-scales the roughness is extremely large (hundreds of Å) and it varies proportionally to the number of graphene layers. In contrast, over much shorter lateral length-scales we observe an atomically abrupt interface with SiC terraces. Graphene near the buried interface exhibits a slightly expanded interlayer spacing (~1%) and fluctuations of this spacing, indicating a tendency for disorder near the growth front. Nevertheless, Dirac cones are observed from the graphene while its domain size routinely reaches micron length-scales, indicating the persistence of high-quality graphene beginning just a short distance away from the buried interface. Discovering and reconciling the different length-scales of roughness by reflectivity was complicated by strong diffuse scattering and we provide a detailed discussion of how these difficulties were resolved. The insight from this analysis will be useful for other highly rough interfaces among broad classes of thin-film materials.},
doi = {10.1039/C9NR03504D},
journal = {Nanoscale},
number = 30,
volume = 11,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Jul 23 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Tue Jul 23 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}
Web of Science
Figures / Tables:
Works referenced in this record:
Electronic Confinement and Coherence in Patterned Epitaxial Graphene
journal, May 2006
- Berger, C.
- Science, Vol. 312, Issue 5777
Ultrahigh electron mobility in suspended graphene
journal, June 2008
- Bolotin, K. I.; Sikes, K. J.; Jiang, Z.
- Solid State Communications, Vol. 146, Issue 9-10, p. 351-355
Mechanically Strong, Electrically Conductive, and Biocompatible Graphene Paper
journal, July 2008
- Chen, Haiqun; Müller, Marc B.; Gilmore, Kerry J.
- Advanced Materials, Vol. 20, Issue 18, p. 3557-3561
Graphene-based composite materials
journal, July 2006
- Stankovich, Sasha; Dikin, Dmitriy A.; Dommett, Geoffrey H. B.
- Nature, Vol. 442, Issue 7100, p. 282-286
Graphene Based Electrochemical Sensors and Biosensors: A Review
journal, March 2010
- Shao, Yuyan; Wang, Jun; Wu, Hong
- Electroanalysis, Vol. 22, Issue 10, p. 1027-1036
Graphene spintronics
journal, October 2014
- Han, Wei; Kawakami, Roland K.; Gmitra, Martin
- Nature Nanotechnology, Vol. 9, Issue 10
Graphene-based devices for measuring pH
journal, March 2018
- Salvo, P.; Melai, B.; Calisi, N.
- Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, Vol. 256
Graphene based materials: Past, present and future
journal, October 2011
- Singh, Virendra; Joung, Daeha; Zhai, Lei
- Progress in Materials Science, Vol. 56, Issue 8
Graphene plasmonics
journal, November 2012
- Grigorenko, A. N.; Polini, M.; Novoselov, K. S.
- Nature Photonics, Vol. 6, Issue 11, p. 749-758
Solid-state decomposition of silicon carbide for growing ultra-thin heteroepitaxial graphite films
journal, September 2002
- Charrier, A.; Coati, A.; Argunova, T.
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 92, Issue 5
Large area and structured epitaxial graphene produced by confinement controlled sublimation of silicon carbide
journal, September 2011
- de Heer, W. A.; Berger, C.; Ruan, M.
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 108, Issue 41
Chemically Resolved Interface Structure of Epitaxial Graphene on SiC(0001)
journal, November 2013
- Emery, Jonathan D.; Detlefs, Blanka; Karmel, Hunter J.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 111, Issue 21
Structural consequences of hydrogen intercalation of epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001)
journal, October 2014
- Emery, Jonathan D.; Wheeler, Virginia D.; Johns, James E.
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 16
Interface structure of epitaxial graphene grown on 4H-SiC(0001)
journal, November 2008
- Hass, J.; Millán-Otoya, J. E.; First, P. N.
- Physical Review B, Vol. 78, Issue 20
Studies of interfacial layers between 4H-SiC (0001) and graphene
journal, April 2010
- Park, J. H.; Mitchel, W. C.; Smith, H. E.
- Carbon, Vol. 48, Issue 5
Exposure of Epitaxial Graphene on SiC(0001) to Atomic Hydrogen
journal, April 2009
- Guisinger, Nathan P.; Rutter, Gregory M.; Crain, Jason N.
- Nano Letters, Vol. 9, Issue 4
Wide Band Gap Semiconductor from a Hidden 2D Incommensurate Graphene Phase
journal, December 2016
- Conrad, Matthew; Wang, Feng; Nevius, Meredith
- Nano Letters, Vol. 17, Issue 1
Semiconducting Graphene from Highly Ordered Substrate Interactions
journal, September 2015
- Nevius, M. S.; Conrad, M.; Wang, F.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 115, Issue 13
Why Multilayer Graphene on Behaves Like a Single Sheet of Graphene
journal, March 2008
- Hass, J.; Varchon, F.; Millán-Otoya, J. E.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 100, Issue 12
Electronic structure of epitaxial graphene grown on the C-face of SiC and its relation to the structure
journal, December 2012
- Tejeda, A.; Taleb-Ibrahimi, A.; de Heer, W.
- New Journal of Physics, Vol. 14, Issue 12
Structural properties of the multilayer graphene/ system as determined by surface x-ray diffraction
journal, June 2007
- Hass, J.; Feng, R.; Millán-Otoya, J. E.
- Physical Review B, Vol. 75, Issue 21
Diffuse scattering of hard x rays from rough surfaces
journal, September 1992
- Weber, Wolfgang; Lengeler, Bruno
- Physical Review B, Vol. 46, Issue 12
X-ray and neutron scattering from rough surfaces
journal, August 1988
- Sinha, S. K.; Sirota, E. B.; Garoff, S.
- Physical Review B, Vol. 38, Issue 4
Temperature and orientation dependence of kinetic roughening during homoepitaxy: A quantitative x-ray-scattering study of Ag
journal, December 1996
- Elliott, W. C.; Miceli, P. F.; Tse, T.
- Physical Review B, Vol. 54, Issue 24
Amorphous interface layer in thin graphite films grown on the carbon face of SiC
journal, September 2011
- Colby, R.; Bolen, M. L.; Capano, M. A.
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 99, Issue 10
Early stage formation of graphene on the C face of 6H-SiC
journal, December 2008
- Camara, N.; Rius, G.; Huntzinger, J. -R.
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 93, Issue 26
Diffraction from surfaces with randomly distributed steps
journal, August 1982
- Lu, T. -M.; Lagally, M. G.
- Surface Science, Vol. 120, Issue 1
Highly ordered graphene for two dimensional electronics
journal, October 2006
- Hass, J.; Feng, R.; Li, T.
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 89, Issue 14
Graphene spintronics
conference, August 2010
- Shiraishi, Masashi
- SPIE NanoScience + Engineering, SPIE Proceedings
Diffraction from surfaces with randomly distributed steps
journal, August 1982
- Lu, T. -M.; Lagally, M. G.
- Surface Science Letters, Vol. 120, Issue 1
Ultrahigh electron mobility in suspended graphene
text, January 2008
- Bolotin, K. I.; Sikes, K. J.; Jiang, Z.
- arXiv
The interface structure of epitaxial graphene grown on 4H-SiC(0001)
text, January 2008
- Hass, J.; Millan-Otoya, J. E.; First, P. N.
- arXiv
Large area and structured epitaxial graphene produced by confinement controlled sublimation of silicon carbide
text, January 2011
- de Heer, Walt. A.; Berger, Claire; Ruan, Ming
- arXiv
Amorphous interface layer in thin graphite films grown on the carbon face of SiC
text, January 2011
- Colby, R.; Bolen, M. L.; Capano, M. A.
- arXiv
Semiconducting graphene from highly ordered substrate interactions
text, January 2015
- Nevius, M. S.; Conrad, M.; Wang, F.
- arXiv
Wide bandgap semiconductor from a hidden 2D incommensurate graphene phase
text, January 2016
- Conrad, Matthew; Wang, Feng; Nevius, Meredith
- arXiv
Highly-ordered graphene for two dimensional electronics
text, January 2006
- Hass, J.; Jeffrey, C. A.; Feng, R.
- arXiv
Figures / Tables found in this record: