Raghunath Murali

By Sarah Bryan

One of the most popular ways to isolate few-layer graphene for device fabrication is through the exfoliation of highly-oriented pyrolitic graphite. Although this method results in high quality crystals, the graphene areas are isolated and therefore not suitable for large-scale production. In contrast, epitaxial graphene growth represents a promising method for fabrication of uniform, wafer-scale, few-layer graphene. Epitaxial graphene is produced through the thermal sublimation of silicon carbide (SiC) in a high vacuum radio frequency induction furnace. Graphene structure is strikingly different for the two faces of SiC substrates, one of which terminates in carbon and the other in silicon. A large amount of work has been carried out on Si-face growth, but recent studies have shown that graphene grown on the C-face results in larger domain size with a significantly less substrate roughness. In addition, the electrical mobility in C-face grown graphene has been shown to be at least an order of magnitude higher than that of the Si-face. In order to extend current technologies beyond the limitations posed by silicon, novel devices fabricated with graphene are necessary. Graphene used for the duplication of current silicon devices is expected to show slight improvements in performance, but the unique properties of graphene should be utilized for innovative technologies which will further enhance integrated circuit capabilities. Extensive research into the creation and application of such devices is predicted to greatly assist in extending the semiconductor technology roadmap.