A high temperature operando study of epitaxial graphene growth on cubic silicon carbide using neutron reflectometry

Abstract

The synthesis of epitaxial graphene (EG) on cubic silicon carbide on silicon substrates holds vast promise for scalable graphene-based electronics and photonics applications integrated with silicon technology. The 3C-SiC/silicon platform is particularly challenging due, among other factors, to the highly defective nature of the 3C-SiC [Citation1]. We have pioneered the use of a Ni/Cu catalyst to obtain a continuous coverage of graphene despite the defective cubic silicon carbide surface template, inferring that this considerable improvement was also to the liquid-phase epitaxial growth condition at 1100°C [Citation2]. A detailed understanding of the graphene growth mechanism through operando analysis is critical in order to optimize further the Ni/Cu catalyst composition and further refine the graphene synthesis process. © 2024Informa UK Limited