| AVS 54th International Symposium | |
| Thin Film | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session TF-TuM |
| Session: | Two-Dimensional Carbon Nanostructures |
| Presenter: | N.P. Guisinger, National Institute of Standards and Technology |
| Authors: | N.P. Guisinger, National Institute of Standards and Technology G.M. Rutter, Georgia Institute of Technology J.N. Crain, National Institute of Standards and Technology E.A.A. Jarvis, National Institute of Standards and Technology M.D. Stiles, National Institute of Standards and Technology P.N. First, Georgia Institute of Technology J.A. Stroscio, National Institute of Standards and Technology |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Graphene films on SiC exhibit coherent transport properties that suggest the potential for novel carbon-based nanoelectronics applications. Through controlled processing of SiC graphitization, large domains of single layer graphene can be realized opening the possibility for large area fabrication of carbon structures. Recent studies suggest that the role of the interface between single layer graphene and silicon-terminated SiC can strongly influence the electronic properties of the graphene overlayer. In the present study we have investigated this interface at the atomic scale, utilizing scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopic measurements at 4 K. These techniques allow us to probe both the graphene adlayer and the underlying electronic states associated with the SiC surface reconstruction. A novel imaging of the underlying interface is demonstrated by exploiting the energy dependence of the density of states of the SiC substrate versus the graphene overlayer. The first layer of graphene becomes semi-transparent at energies of 1 eV above or below the Fermi-energy, yielding images of the SiC interface. Our analysis of calculations based on density functional theory shows how this transparency arises from the electronic structure of a graphene layer on the SiC substrate. * This work was supported in part by the Office of Naval Research, by Intel Research, and by NSF grant ECS-0404084.