Fabrication of Si(111) crystalline thin film on graphene by aluminum-induced crystallization

We report the fabrication of a Si(111) crystalline thin film on graphene by the aluminum-induced crystallization (AIC) process. The AIC process of Si(111) on graphene is shown to be enhanced compared to that on an amorphous SiO2 substrate, resulting in a more homogeneous Si(111) thin film structure as revealed by X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy measurements. Raman measurements confirm that the graphene is intact throughout the process, retaining its characteristic phonon spectrum without any appearance of the D peak. A red-shift of Raman peaks, which is more pronounced for the 2D peak, is observed in graphene after the crystallization process. It is found to correlate with the red-shift of the Si Raman peak, suggesting an epitaxial relationship between graphene and the adsorbed AIC Si(111) film with both the graphene and Si under tensile strain. (C) 2016 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).