LEED observation of formation of epitaxial graphene on 3C-SiC(111) ultrathin film

Takahashi, Ryota*; Miyamoto, Yu*; Handa, Hiroyuki*; Saito, Eiji*; Imaizumi, Kei*; Fukidome, Hirokazu*; Suemitsu, Maki*; Teraoka, Yuden; Yoshigoe, Akitaka 

New technologies beyond Si-CMOS technologies are neccessary in the Si electronic device developments. Now, graphene is attracted as it has a large mobility. It is well known that a 6H-SiC substrate surface changes to graphene by thermal annealing in vacuum as Si atoms sublimate. On the other hand, we developed the graphene-on-silicon (GOS) method in which graphene is formed from 3C-SiC thin film on an Si substrate by thermal annealing in vacuum. In this report, graphene formation processes were observed by LEED for a 6H-SiC(0001) substrate and a 3C-SiC(111) surface. It was found that the graphene formation process on a 3C-SiC(111) surface proceeded through the same surface reconstruction structure with that of 6H-SiC(0001) substrate.