Epitaxial Graphene Growth on 3C-SiC(111)/AlN(0001)/Si(100)

A few layers of graphene films are grown on high-quality epitaxial 3C-SiC(111) films on an AlN/Si(100) substrate. The use of an AlN buffer layer improves SiC film quality due to reduced lattice mismatch and reduced Si outdiffusion, and the presence of AlN allows for graphene growth on a hexagonal-like surface, 3C-SiC(111), on a Si(100) substrate. Raman spectroscopy and Auger electron spectroscopy confirm the presence of graphene and are used to estimate the graphene domain size (similar to 10 to 25 nm) and thickness (monolayer to few-layer graphene). The graphene film quality is found to be comparable to those reported on SiC (111)/Si (111) while the use of an AlN buffer layer opens the opportunity for growth on a more widely used Si(100) substrate and the decoupling of the electrical isolation layer from the graphitization source. (C) 2010 The Electrochemical Society. [DOI: 10.1149/1.3518713] All rights reserved.