Scanning tunneling microscope study of striated carbon ridges in few-layer epitaxial graphene formed on 4H-silicon carbide (0001)

Atomically resolved scanning tunneling microscope images of carbon ridge defects found in few-layer graphene formed on the C-face (0001) of 4H-silicon carbide reveal a striated exterior surface formed from out-of-plane distortions of the hexagonal graphene lattice. While ridge formation is likely explained by compressive in-plane stresses coupled with the small values of the bending modulus for few-layer graphene, the striated structure along the ridges argues for a localized unidirectional stress in the material directed along the ridge length.