Low temperature growth of epitaxial graphene on SiC induced by carbon evaporation

Low temperature growth of epitaxial graphene on SiC is facilitated by carbon evaporation under ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) conditions. By counteracting the need for complete Si depletion as in the conventional sublimation method, monolayer graphene evolves at significantly lower temperatures by depositing additional carbon, so that a degradation of the initial SiC surface quality can be avoided. The original, well ordered terrace structure of SiC (0001) is preserved, the graphene layers grow on top and show the typical linear pi-band dispersion. On SiC(000 (1) over bar) the graphene lattice is rotated by 30 degrees in comparison to the conventional UHV preparation method. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3265916]