| AVS 55th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Graphene Topical Conference | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session GR+TF+NC-TuA |
| Session: | Graphene: Characterization, Properties, and Application |
| Presenter: | R.G. Vitchev, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Belgium |
| Authors: | R.G. Vitchev, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Belgium A. Malesevic, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Belgium A. Vanhulsel, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Belgium R. Kemps, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Belgium M. Mertens, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Belgium G. Van Tendeloo, University of Antwerp, Belgium C. Van Haesendonck, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium R. Persoons, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Belgium |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Graphene has recently attracted considerable attention as a potential material for nanoelectronic devices. A promising method for its mass production is microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (MW PECVD). The main advantage of this technique is that few layer graphene (FLG) can be grown without the need of a catalyst on different substrates that can withstand high temperature (up to 700°C). However, the growth mechanism of PECVD synthesized graphene is not well understood. The aim of this work was to investigate the growth process of FLG deposited by MW PECVD on several substrates (quartz, silicon, platinum). The resulting thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and angle resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (ARXPS). Three stages of film growth on silicon were identified by ARXPS: formation of a carbide layer on the substrate, deposition of an amorphous carbon layer and finally formation of a graphitic layer parallel to the substrate surface. It was established that crack edges in this graphitic layer serve as nucleation sites from which FLG flakes, only four to six atomic layers thin, grow perpendicular to the surface. This growth mechanism appears to be substrate dependent since no intermediate carbide layer was formed on both quartz and platinum surfaces. Furthermore, no amorphous carbon layer was detected on the platinum substrates, even for the shortest deposition time intervals.