Molecular beam epitaxial growth of graphene using cracked ethylene — Advantage over ethanol in growth

• Published in: Diamond and related materials Vol. 34; pp. 84 - 88
• Main Authors: Maeda, Fumihiko, Hibino, Hiroki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.04.2013; Elsevier
• Subjects: Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Crack propagation; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Deposition; Ethanol; Ethyl alcohol; Ethylene; Exact sciences and technology; Flow rate; Fullerenes and related materials; diamonds, graphite; Grain boundaries; Graphene; Materials science; Methods of deposition of films and coatings; film growth and epitaxy; Molecular beam epitaxy; Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE); Molecular, atomic, ion, and chemical beam epitaxy; Physics; Specific materials; Structure and morphology; thickness; Surface characterization; Surface microscopy; Surfaces and interfaces; thin films and whiskers (structure and nonelectronic properties); Theory and models of film growth; Thin film structure and morphology; Grain boundaries; Surface characterization; Graphene; Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE); Surface microscopy; Atomic force microscopy; Crystal defects; Ethanol; Ethylene; Etching; Deposition rate; Crystallinity; Surface analysis; Raman spectroscopy; Carbon; Operating conditions; Surface structure; Growth mechanism; Molecular beam epitaxy
• ISSN: 0925-9635; 1879-0062
• DOI: 10.1016/j.diamond.2013.02.007

We studied the growth of graphene by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) using ethylene and evaluated the MBE-grown graphene. The flow rate dependence of the carbon deposition rate in the ethylene MBE indicated a gradual decrease of the deposition rate with increasing flow rate. This is an improvement from that deposition rate with ethanol, which abruptly decreases because of an etching effect. This feature of ethylene enhances the condition for the growth of the high-quality graphene. Raman spectroscopy measurement and atomic force microscopy observation show that the quality of graphene grown using ethylene is improved from that grown using ethanol from the viewpoints of a domain size and crystallinity. These results demonstrate the advantages of ethylene over ethanol in the MBE growth of graphene. ► High-temperature cracking enables us to use ethylene as a source gas for MBE growth. ► Use of ethylene instead of ethanol improves flow-rate dependence of MBE. ► Graphene domain size grown using ethylene is larger than that grown using ethanol. ► Ethylene has the advantage over ethanol in the MBE growth of graphene.