Abstract
A simple, noninvasive method using Raman spectroscopy for the estimation of the thickness of graphene layers grown epitaxially on silicon carbide (SiC) is presented, enabling simultaneous determination of thickness, grain size, and disorder using the spectra. The attenuation of the substrate Raman signal due to the graphene overlayer is found to be dependent on the graphene film thickness deduced from x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of the surfaces. We explain this dependence using an absorbing overlayer model. This method can be used for mapping graphene thickness over a region and is capable of estimating thickness of multilayer graphene films beyond that possible by XPS and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES).
Similar content being viewed by others
References
K.S. Novoselov, A. K. Geim, S. V. Morozov, D. Jiang, Y. Zhang, S. V. Dubonos, I. V. Grigorieva, A. A. Firsov, Science 306, 666 (2004). doi:10.1126/science.1102896.
A. H. Castro Neto, F. Guinea, N. M. R. Peres, K. S. Novoselov, A. K. Geim, Rev. Mod. Phys., 81, 109 (2009). doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.81.109.
K. S. Novoselov, A. K. Geim, S. V. Morozov, D. Jiang, M. I. Katsnelson, I. V. Grigorieva, S. V. Dubonos, A. A. Firsov, Nature, 438, 197 (2005). doi:10.1038/nature04233.
Y. Zhang, Y. Tan, H. L. Stormer, P. Kim, Y. Zhang et. al., Nature, 438, 201 (2005). doi:10.1038/nature04235.
K. S. Novoselov, Z. Jiang, Y. Zhang, S. V. Morozov, H. L. Stormer, U. Zeitler, J. C. Maan, G. S. Boebinger, P. Kim, and A. K. Geim, Science 315, 1379 (2007). doi:10.1126/science.1137201.
F. Rana, IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology, 7, 91 (2008). doi:10.1109/TNANO.2007.910334.
G. Liang, N. Neophytou, D. E. Nikonov, M. S. Lundstrom, IEEE Trans. Elec. Dev., 54, 657 (2007). doi:10.1109/TED.2007.891872.
J. R. Williams, L. DiCarlo, C. M. Marcus, Science, 317, 638 (2007). doi:10.1126/science.1144657.
MC Lemme, TJ Echtermeyer, M Baus, H Kurz, IEEE Electron Device Letters, 28, 4, 284 (2007).
F. Schedin, A.K. Geim, S.V. Morozov, E.W. Hill, P. Blake, M.I. Katsnelson, K.S. Novoselov, Nature Materials 6, 652 (2007). doi:10.1038/nmat1967.
C. Berger, Z. Song, T. Li, X. Li, A. Y. Ogbazghi, R. Feng, Z. Dai, A.N. Marchenkov, E.H. Conrad, P.N. First, W.A. de Heer, J. Phys. Chem. B 108, 19912 (2004). doi:10.1021/jp040650f.
C. Berger, Z. Song, X. Li, X. Wu, N. Brown, C. Naud, D. Mayou, T. Li, J. Hass, A. N. Marchenkov, E.H. Conrad, P. N. First, W. A. de Heer, Science, 312, 1191 (2006). doi:10.1126/science.1125925.
J. M. Dawlaty, S. Shivaraman, M. Chandrashekhar, F. Rana and M. G. Spencer, Appl. Phys. Lett. 92, 042116 (2008). doi:10.1063/1.2837539.
D. Sun, Z. Wu, C. Divin, X. Li, C. Berger, W.A. de Heer, P. First, and T. Norris, arXiv:cond-mat/0803.2883 (2008).
E. Rollings, G.-H. Gweon, S. Zhou, B. Mun, J. McChesney, B. Hussain, A. Fedorov, P. First, W. de Heer, A. Lanzara, J. Phys. Chem. Solids 67, 2172 (2006). doi:10.1016/j.jpcs.2006.05.010.
J.M. Dawlaty, S. Shivaraman, J. Strait, P. George, M. Chandrashekhar, F. Rana, and M.G. Spencer, arXiv:cond-mat/0801.3302 (2008).
S. Tanuma, C. J. Powell, D. R. Penn, Surf. Interface Anal. 36, 1 (2004). doi:10.1002/sia.1601.
E.D. Palik (ed.), Handbook of Optical Constants of Solids (New York: Academic Press, 1991).
F. Tuinstra and J.L. Koenig, J. Chem. Phys. 53, 1126 (1970). doi:10.1063/1.1674108.
A. C. Ferrari and J. Robertson, Phys. Rev. B 61, 14095 (2000). doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.61.14095.
B. Hornetz, H-J. Michel and J. Halbritter, J. Mater. Res., 9, 12, 3088 (1994).
P. J. Cumpson, Surface and Interface Analysis, 29, 403 (2000). doi:10.1002/1096-9918(200006)29:6<403::AID-SIA884>3.0.CO;2-8.
C. Thomsen and S. Reich, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 5214 (2000). doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.5214.
J. C. Burton, L. Sun, F. H. Long, Z. C. Feng, I. T. Ferguson, Phys. Rev. B, 59, 11, 7282 (1999).
Yang Wu, Kin Fai Mak, Chun Hung Lui, Janina Maultzsch, Tony Heinz, Bul. of Am. Phys. Soc. 53, L29.00006 (2008).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Shivaraman, S., Chandrashekhar, M.V.S., Boeckl, J.J. et al. Thickness Estimation of Epitaxial Graphene on SiC Using Attenuation of Substrate Raman Intensity. J. Electron. Mater. 38, 725–730 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-009-0803-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-009-0803-6