ABSTRACT
Contents 2.1 Introduction................................................................................................... 37 2.2 Synthesis of Epitaxial Graphene ................................................................. 38
2.2.1 Role of Step Edges ............................................................................ 41 2.2.2 Electrical Properties of Epitaxial Graphene ................................ 42
2.3 Materials Integration with Epitaxial Graphene for Device Applications ................................................................................................... 45 2.3.1 Dielectric Integration with Epitaxial Graphene ......................... 46
References ................................................................................................................. 49
three-dimensional graphite bulk by physically dragging highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) across a substrate1 or by using a scotch tape to peel individual layers of carbon from HOPG.2 e process of exfoliation is a relatively simple and cost-eective method to produce high-quality graphene crystallites as large as 10 μm; however, this process produces bilayer and multi-layer crystallites as well. Because of the various types of crystallites produced during exfoliation, optical microscopy must be utilised to search out and identify single-layer graphene crystallites for further processing or testing. Although exfoliation produces graphene samples that exhibit excellent electronic properties, the technique is decidedly time consuming and impractical for largescale manufacturing. In recent years, synthesis by mechanical cleavage has become more ecient, even incorporating the use of ultra-sonication to create suspensions of sub-micron graphene crystals which can be used to coat arbitrary substrates,3 yet remains unsuitable for wafer-scale production of graphene electronic devices. Alternatively, the development and optimisation of synthesis techniques such as chemical vapour deposition (CVD) and sublimation from SiC wafers have allowed for wafer-scale synthesis of large-grained, polycrystalline graphene lms and provided promise for the eventual commercialisation of graphene-based electronic technologies that require highquality, aordable graphene substrates.
