Size confinement effect in graphene grown on 6H-SiC (0001) substrate

We have observed the energy structure in the density of occupied states of graphene grown on n-type 6H-SiC (0001). The structure revealed with photoelectron spectroscopy is described by creation of the quantum well states whose number and the energy position (E1 = 0.3 eV, E2 = 1.2 eV, E3 = 2.6 eV ) coincide with the calculated ones for deep (V = 2.9 eV) and narrow (d = 2.15 A) quantum well formed by potential relief of the valence bands in the structure graphene/n-SiC. We believe that the quantum well states should be formed also in graphene on dielectric and in suspended graphene.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Silver nanoparticle array on weakly interacting epitaxial graphene substrate as catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction under neutral conditions

Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Author(s).The paucity of research on hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) under neutral conditions, which is a more sustainable way to produce H-2 compared to acidic and alkaline HER, encourages the development of efficient catalytic materials and devices and deeper investigation of the mechanisms behind neutral HER. We present an electrode concept for facilitating HER under neutral conditions. The concept entails the use of annealing-reshaped silver (Ag) nanoparticle array on monolayer epitaxial graphene (MEG) on 4H-SiC. Measurements of HER performance show more positive onset potential of the cathodic HER for Ag-decorated MEG compared to that for pristine MEG, indicating improved water dissociation at Ag/MEG electrodes. Complementary morphological characterization, absorption measurements, and Raman mapping analysis enable us to ascribe the enhanced catalytic performance of electrodes decorated with 2 nm thick annealed Ag on the synergetic effect originating from simultaneous water reduction on circular Ag nanoparticles of 31 nm in diameter and on compressively strained Ag-free graphene regions. The overall results pave the way toward development of stable van der Waals heterostructure electrodes with a tunable metal-carbon interaction for fast HER under neutral conditions. (C) 2021 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Peer reviewe

http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-69793 Epitaxially grown graphene based gas sensors for ultra sensitive NO2 detection

Epitaxially grown single layer and multi layer graphene on SiC devices were fabricated and compared for response towards NO2. Due to electron donation from SiC, single layer graphene is n-type with a very low carrier concentration. The choice of substrate is demonstrated to enable tailoring of the electronic properties of graphene, with a SiC substrate realising simple resistive devices tuned for extremely sensitive NO2 detection. The gas exposed uppermost layer of the multi layer device is screened from the SiC by the intermediate layers leading to a p-type nature with a higher concentration of charge carriers and therefore, a lower gas response. The single layer graphene device is thought to undergo an n-p transition upon exposure to increasing concentrations of NO2 indicated by a change in response direction. This transition is likely to be due to the transfer of electrons to NO2 making holes the majority carriers

Ion beam evaluation of silicon carbide membrane structures intended for particle detectors

Thin ion transmission detectors can be used as a part of a telescope detector for mass and energy identification but also as a pre-cell detector in a microbeam system for studies of biological effects from single ion hits on individual living cells. We investigated a structure of graphene on silicon carbide (SiC) with the purpose to explore a thin transmission detector with a very low noise level and having mechanical strength to act as a vacuum window. In order to reach very deep cavities in the SiC wafers for the preparation of the membrane in the detector, we have studied the Inductive Coupled Plasma technique to etch deep circular cavities in 325 μm prototype samples. By a special high temperature process the outermost layers of the etched SiC wafers were converted into a highly conductive graphitic layer. The produced cavities were characterized by electron microscopy, optical microscopy and proton energy loss measurements. The average membrane thickness was found to be less than 40 μm, however, with a slightly curved profile. Small spots representing much thinner membrane were also observed and might have an origin in crystal defects or impurities. Proton energy loss measurement (also called Scanning Transmission Ion Microscopy, STIM) is a well suited technique for this thickness range. This work presents the first steps of fabricating a membrane structure of SiC and graphene which may be an attractive approach as a detector due to the combined properties of SiC and graphene in a monolithic materials structure

Decoupling and ordering of multilayer graphene on C-face 3C-SiC(111)

We show experimentally that few layer graphene (FLG) grown on the carbon terminated surface (C-face) of 3C-SiC(111) is composed of decoupled graphene sheets. Landau level spectroscopy on FLG graphene is performed using the infrared optical Hall effect. We find that Landau level transitions in the FLG exhibit polarization preserving selection rules and the transition energies obey a square-root dependence on the magnetic field strength. These results show that FLG on C-face 3C-SiC(111) behave effectively as a single layer graphene with linearly dispersing bands (Dirac cones) at the graphene K point. We estimate from the Landau level spectroscopy an upper limit of the Fermi energy of about 60 meV in the FLG, which corresponds to a carrier density below 2.5 × 1011cm-2. Low-energy electron diffraction μ-LEED) reveals the presence of azimuthally rotated graphene domains with a typical size of ≤200 nm. μ-LEED mapping suggests that the azimuth rotation occurs between adjacent domains within the same sheet rather than vertically in the stack

Large-area microfocal spectroscopic ellipsometry mapping of thickness and electronic properties of epitaxial graphene on Si- and C-face of 3C-SiC(111)

Microfocal spectroscopic ellipsometry mapping of the electronic properties and thickness of epitaxial graphene grown by high-temperature sublimation on 3C-SiC (111) substrates is reported. Growth of one monolayer graphene is demonstrated on both Si- and C-polarity of the 3C-SiC substrates and it is shown that large area homogeneous single monolayer graphene can be achieved on the Si-face substrates. Correlations between the number of graphene monolayers on one hand and the main transition associated with an exciton enhanced van Hove singularity at ∼4.5 eV and the free-charge carrier scattering time, on the other are established. It is shown that the interface structure on the Si- and C-polarity of the 3C-SiC(111) differs and has a determining role for the thickness and electronic properties homogeneity of the epitaxial graphene

Large-area microfocal spectroscopic ellipsometry mapping of thickness and electronic properties of epitaxial graphene on Si- and C-face of 3C-SiC(111)

Microfocal spectroscopic ellipsometry mapping of the electronic properties and thickness of epitaxial graphene grown by high-temperature sublimation on 3C-SiC (111) substrates is reported. Growth of one monolayer graphene is demonstrated on both Si- and C-polarity of the 3C-SiC substrates and it is shown that large area homogeneous single monolayer graphene can be achieved on the Si-face substrates. Correlations between the number of graphene monolayers on one hand and the main transition associated with an exciton enhanced van Hove singularity at ∼4.5 eV and the free-charge carrier scattering time, on the other are established. It is shown that the interface structure on the Si- and C-polarity of the 3C-SiC(111) differs and has a determining role for the thickness and electronic properties homogeneity of the epitaxial graphene

Multi-scale investigation of interface properties, stacking order and decoupling of few layer graphene on C-face 4H-SiC

In this work, we report a multi-scale investigation using several nano-, micro and macro-scale techniques of few layer graphene (FLG) sample consisting of large monolayer (ML) and bilayer (BL) areas grown on C-face 4H-SiC (000-1) by high-temperature sublimation. Single 1 × 1 diffraction patterns are observed by micro-low-energy electron diffraction for ML, BL and trilayer graphene with no indication of out-of-plane rotational disorder. A SiOx layer is identified between graphene and SiC by X-ray photoelectron emission spectroscopy and reflectance measurements. The chemical composition of the interface layer changes towards SiO2 and its thickness increases with aging in normal ambient conditions. The formation mechanism of the interface layer is discussed. It is shown by torsion resonance conductive atomic force microscopy that the interface layer causes the formation of non-ideal Schottky contact between ML graphene and SiC. This is attributed to the presence of a large density of interface states. Mid-infrared optical Hall effect measurements revealed Landau-level transitions in FLG that have a square-root dependence on magnetic field, which evidences a stack of decoupled graphene sheets. Contrary to previous works on decoupled C-face graphene, our BL and FLG are composed of ordered decoupled graphene layers without out-of-plane rotation