Scanning probe analysis of twisted graphene grown on a graphene/silicon carbide template

Overlayer growth of graphene on an epitaxial graphene/silicon carbide (SiC) as a solid template by ethanol chemical vapor deposition is performed over a wide growth temperature range from 900 ºC to 1450 ºC. Structural analysis using atomic force and scanning tunneling microscopies reveal that graphene islands grown at 1300 ºC form hexagonal twisted bilayer graphene as a single crystal. When the growth temperature exceeds 1400 ºC, the grown graphene islands show a circular shape. Moreover, moiré patterns with different periods are observed in a single graphene island. This means that the graphene islands grown at high temperature are composed of several graphene domains with different twist angles. From these results, we conclude that graphene overlayer growth on the epitaxial graphene/SiC solid at 1300 ºC effectively synthesizes the twisted few-layer graphene with a high crystallinity.

FIELD DESORPTION OF INTERCALATED CAESIUM ATOMS FROM GRAPHENE ON THE (100) IRIDIUM FACE

С помощью полевой десорбционной микроскопии исследована десорбция атомов цезия с квазисферической науглероженной поверхности монокристалла иридия. Получены полевые электронные и десорбционные изображения поверхности при образовании графена на грани (100) иридия. Полевые электронные изображения поверхности эмиттера до интеркалирования и после интеркалирования графена атомами цезия не изменяются. Электрическое поле стимулирует десорбцию атомов цезия из интеркалированного состояния, вследствие разрыва связей крайних атомов углерода с поверхностью грани (100) иридия. С помощью покадровой регистрации показана возможность наблюдения локализации дефектов графенового слоя на поверхности полевого эмиттера. Показано, что полевая десорбция атомов цезия из интеркалированного состояния начинается с дефектов графена расположенных по периметру островка графена. Обнаружено, что десорбционные центры могут располагаться не только по периметру графенового островка, но и в центральной его части в случае образования неупорядоченного графена. The desorption of caesium atoms from the quasi-spherical carbonized surface of an iridium single crystal was studied using the field desorption microscopy. Field electron and desorption images of the surface during the formation of graphene on the (100) iridium face are obtained. The field electron images of the emitter surface before intercalation and after intercalation of graphene with caesium atoms do not change. The electric field stimulates the desorption of caesium atoms from the intercalated state, due to the breaking of the bonds of the extreme carbon atoms with the surface of the face (100) of iridium. Using frame-by-frame recording, the possibility is shown of observing the localization of graphene layer defects on the surface of the field emitter. It is also shown that the field desorption of caesium atoms from the intercalated state begins with graphene defects located along the perimeter of the graphene island. It is found that desorption centers can be located not only along the perimeter of the graphene island, but also in its central part in the case of the disordered graphene formation.

The complementary graphene growth and etching revealed by large-scale kinetic Monte Carlo simulation

To fully understand the kinetics of graphene growth, large-scale atomic simulations of graphene islands evolution up to macro sizes (i.e., graphene islands of a few micrometers or with billions of carbon atoms) during growth and etching is essential, but remains a great challenge. In this paper, we developed a low computational cost large-scale kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) algorithm, which includes all possible events of carbon attachments and detachments on various edge sites of graphene islands. Such a method allows us to simulate the evolution of graphene islands with sizes up to tens of micrometers during either growth or etching with a single CPU core. With this approach and the carefully fitted parameters, we have reproduced the experimentally observed evolution of graphene islands during both growth or etching on Pt(111) surface, and revealed more atomic details of graphene growth and etching. Based on the atomic simulations, we discovered a complementary relationship of graphene growth and etching—the route of graphene island shape evolution during growth is exactly the same as that of the etching of a hole in graphene and that of graphene island etching is exactly same as that of hole growth. The complementary relation brings us a basic principle to understand the growth and etching of graphene, and other 2D materials from atomic scale to macro size and the KMC algorithm is expected to be further developed into a standard simulation package for investigating the growth mechanism of 2D materials on various substrates.

Объемные и поверхностные эффекты при образовании и разрушении графена на родии

Growth and destruction of graphene islands on Rh have been studied accounting processes on the surface and in the substrate bulk simultaneously. Atomic carbon was shown to be distributed between three equilibrium phases: graphene, solid solution in the metal substrate, and chemisorbed carbon. An increase in graphene island area results in corresponding increase in carbon concentration in the solid solution and chemisorbed phase. Atomic carbon concentrations are measured for all three phases for various stages of graphene growth and decomposition. The activation energy of atomic carbon detachment from the graphene island perimeter on Rh has been determined, Edet = 2.7 eV. Surface concentration of graphene islands has been estimated to be about 1010 per сm2.

Gated graphene island-enabled tunable charge transfer plasmon terahertz metamodulator

Graphene-enhanced optoelectronic terahertz (THz) signal processing offers an exquisite potential for tailoring extreme-subwavelength platforms to develop tunable and highly-responsive photonic tools.