Evolution of epitaxial graphene layers on 3C SiC/Si (1 1 1) as a function of annealing temperature in UHV

The growth of graphene on SiC/Si substrates is an appealing alternative to the growth on bulk SiC for cost reduction and to better integrate the material with Si based electronic devices. In this paper, we present a thorough in situ study of the growth of epitaxial graphene on 3C SiC (1 1 1)/Si (1 1 1) substrates via high temperature annealing (ranging from 1125 to 1375 °C) in ultra high vacuum (UHV). The quality and number of graphene layers have been investigated by using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), while the surface characterization have been studied by Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy (STM). Ex-situ Raman spectroscopy measurements confirm our findings, which demonstrate the exponential dependence of the number of graphene layers on the annealing temperature.