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Deposition of graphene by sublimation of pyrolytic carbon

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Abstract

We report on the study of deposition of carbon films on different substrates: (001) Si, (001) Si covered with 300 nm \(\hbox {SiO}_{2} (\hbox {Si/SiO}_{2})\) film as well as on (001) Si covered with \(\hbox {SiO}_{2}\) and diamond-like carbon layers (DLC) carried out by sublimation of pyrolytic carbon layers. It is established by Raman as well as by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) that the layers deposited on Si as well as on \(\hbox {Si/SiO}_{2}\) substrates consist of amorphous \(\hbox {sp}^{2}\)—bonded carbon (\(\upalpha \)-C) and the longer deposition time leads to formation of micro-sized \(\upalpha \)-C islands. The Raman studies of the films deposited on the \(\hbox {SiO}_{2}\) covered areas in the third type substrates have requisites of defected graphene (presence of clear D and weak broadening of the 2D band while the intensity ratio of 2D to G and D bands remains high: more than 2.5 and 3.1, respectively) and the films are predominantly single-layered. These films are determined as “polygraphene” (mainly single-layered graphene film consisting of mutually misoriented areas). The films deposited on the DLC paths in the third type of substrates most probably consist of few layers of mixed few-layered polygraphene and \((\hbox {sp}^{2}\hbox {C})\)- and \((\hbox {sp}^{3}\hbox {C})\)- H phases. The thorough XPS study indirectly confirms the above conclusions. The formation of polygraphene and mixed phases is explained with nucleation of many stable carbon aggregates which, once formed, are not sufficiently mobile to mutually re-orientate until forming defect-free graphene.

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Article Open access 09 February 2016

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge Assoc. Prof. E.P. Valcheva (Faculty of Physics, Sofia University, Sofia) for help with the Raman measurements as well as support from MPNS COST ACTION MP1204 - TERA-MIR Radiation: Materials, Generation, Detection and Applications.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. “E. Djakov” Institute of Electronics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 72 Tzarigradsko Chaussee Blvd., 1784, Sofia, Bulgaria

    Teodor Milenov

  2. Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., bl. 11, 1113, Sofia, Bulgaria

    Ivalina Avramova

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  1. Teodor Milenov
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Correspondence to Teodor Milenov.

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Milenov, T., Avramova, I. Deposition of graphene by sublimation of pyrolytic carbon. Opt Quant Electron 47, 851–863 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-014-0015-z

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