Graphite Thin Films Consisting of Nanograins of Multilayer Graphene on Sapphire Substrates Directly Grown by Alcohol Chemical Vapor Deposition

Graphene has been attracting a strong interest as a transparent electrode as well as a THz nanoelectronic device owing to its unique properties. To date, large-area graphene growth has been realized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) with a catalyst metal. To avoid the transfer of segregated graphene, we have examined directly graphite thin film growth on nonpolar a-sapphire substrates without any catalyst metal by alcohol CVD. Graphite thin films consisting of nanograins of multilayer graphene on a-sapphire substrates were verified by a combination of transmission electron spectroscopy (TEM), and Raman analyses, and optical transparent and sheet resistance measurements. (C) 2011 The Japan Society of Applied Physics