Morphology characterization of argon-mediated epitaxial graphene on C-face SiC

Epitaxial graphene layers were grown on the C-face of 4H-SiC and 6H-SiC using an argon-mediated growth process. Variations in growth temperature and pressure were found to dramatically affect the morphological properties of the layers. The presence of argon during growth slowed the rate of graphene formation on the C-face and led to the observation of islanding. The similarity in the morphology of the islands and continuous films indicated that island nucleation and coalescence is the growth mechanism for C-face graphene. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3442903]