optical microscopy of crystal growth of graphene using thermal radiation

Terasawa, Tomoo   ; Taira, Takanobu*; Obata, Seiji*; Saiki, Koichiro*; Yasuda, Satoshi   ; Asaoka, Hidehito  

Graphene, an atomically thin sheet composed of sp carbon atoms, has been the most attractive material in this decade. The fascinating properties of graphene are exhibited when it is monolayer. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is widely used to produce monolayer graphene selectively in large-area. Here we introduce "radiation-mode optical microscopy" which we have developed in order to realize the observation of the CVD growth of graphene. We show the method to observe graphene as bright contrast on Cu substrates in thermal radiation images. The growth mechanism, the nucleation site and rate limiting process, revealed by the observation is presented. Finally, we show the CVD growth of graphene on Au substrates, resulting in the tuning of the emissivity of graphene by the pre-treatment procedures. Our method is not only a way to observe the graphene growth but also shed light on the thermal radiation property of graphene.