Growth of thickness-controlled epitaxial graphene on on-axis 6H-SiC (C-face) substrate in graphite enclosure

The epitaxial graphene layers have been grown on 6H-SiC \((000\bar{1})\) substrate in a graphite enclosure. A homogeneous coverage of graphene with few layers is formed on the whole surface of substrate when annealed at 1600 °C for 10 min under pressure of ~10⁻³ mbar. Raman spectra and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to characterize stacking order, crystalline quality and thickness of epitaxial graphene. Atomic force microscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy were used to estimate the surface quality and domain size of epitaxial graphene. It is found that the order of EG is almost with little change and the stacking, homogeneity and continuity are improved a lot when elevating graphitization temperature and prolonging graphitization time and that thickness of graphene is not sensitive to the graphitization temperature and time but the crystalline quality of epitaxial graphene is, using this fabrication configuration. In other words, it is easy to controllably grow thin overlayers in good quality using this technique.