Direct growth of few-layer graphene on 6H-SiC and 3C-SiC/Si via propane chemical vapor deposition

Abstract

We propose to grow graphene on SiC by a direct carbon feeding through propane flow in a chemical vapor deposition reactor. X-ray photoemission and low energy electron diffraction show that propane allows to grow few-layer graphene (FLG) on 6H-SiC(0001). Surprisingly, FLG grown on (0001) face presents a rotational disorder similar to that observed for FLG obtained by annealing on (000–1) face. Thanks to a reduced growth temperature with respect to the classical SiC annealing method, we have also grown FLG/3C-SiC/Si(111) in a single growth sequence. This opens the way for large-scale production of graphene-based devices on silicon substrate.