4H-SiC(0001) basal plane stability during the growth of epitaxial graphene on inverted-mesa structures

Abstract

The epitaxial graphene growth at the 4H-SiC(0001) surface with intentionally inserted step-free basal plane regions was performed by high temperature annealing in the range of 1600-1900 °C under ultrahigh vacuum. For fabricating inverted-mesa structures with the step-free regions at SiC surfaces, a combined process consisting of a direct laser digging and a Si-vapor etching at 1900 °C was utilized. The graphitized surfaces were characterized by atomic force microscopy, low acceleration voltage (0.1-1.0 kV) scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. It was found that the graphene thickness at the SiC step-free surface tends to be suppressed compared with the thickness at background SiC stepterrace surfaces where the steps are intrinsically introduced from intentional/unintentional substrate miscut angles. From the characterization by Raman mapping, 1ML graphene was obtained at the SiC step-free surface at 1600 °C graphitization in contrast to the case that multilayer graphene was grown at SiC step-terrace surfaces. © 2011 The Japan Society of Applied Physics.