Oxygen-induced reduction of the graphitization temperature of SiC surface

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

In the solid-vapor phase equilibria between SiC and O system, there exists a region where the reaction of O with SiC takes place. By tuning the temperature and the oxygen pressure used in the graphitization annealing, we have succeeded in the growth of epitaxial graphene on SiC crystals at 1273 K, which is lower by 250C or more than the conventional epitaxial graphene method. The method is especially useful to form an epitaxial graphene on a silicon substrate (GOS), which requires a lower graphitization temperature because of necessity of compatibility with conventional Si technologies.