Stacking domains in graphene on silicon carbide: a pathway for intercalation

Abstract

Graphene on silicon carbide (SiC) bears great potential for future graphene electronic applications because it is available on the wafer-scale and its properties can be custom-tailored by inserting various atoms into the graphene/SiC interface. It remains unclear, however, how atoms can cross the impermeable graphene layer during this widely used intercalation process. Here we demonstrate that, in contrast to the current consensus, graphene layers on SiC are not homogeneous, but instead composed of domains of different crystallographic stacking. We show that these domains are intrinsically formed during growth and that dislocations between domains dominate the (de)intercalation dynamics. Tailoring these dislocation networks, e.g. through substrate engineering, will increase the control over the intercalation process and could open a playground for topological and correlated electron phenomena in two-dimensional superstructures.

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• Homogeneous Large-area Quasi-freestanding Monolayer and Bilayer Graphene on SiC
• Direct evidence for flat bands in twisted bilayer graphene from nano-ARPES
• Silicon carbide stacking-order-induced doping variation in epitaxial graphene
• A diffraction paradox: An unusually broad diffraction background signals ideal graphene
• Quantitative analysis of spectroscopic Low Energy Electron Microscopy data: High-dynamic range imaging, drift correction and cluster analysis
• Stacking domain morphology in epitaxial graphene on silicon carbide
• Ambipolar charge transport in quasi-free-standing monolayer graphene on SiC obtained by gold intercalation
• Thermodynamics and kinetics of H adsorption and intercalation for graphene on 6H-SiC(0001) from first-principles calculations
• Nanoscale Terahertz Conductivity and Ultrafast Dynamics of Terahertz Plasmons in Periodic Arrays of Epitaxial Graphene Nanoribbons
• Quasi-free-standing AA-stacked bilayer graphene induced by calcium intercalation of the graphene-silicon carbide interface
• Superconducting Sn-Intercalated TaSe${}_2$: Structural Diversity Obscured by Routine Characterization Techniques
• Low-Energy Electron Microscopy contrast of stacking boundaries: comparing twisted few-layer graphene and strained epitaxial graphene on silicon carbide
• Untangling 3D atomic reconstruction in twisted bilayer 2D crystals via dark field transmission electron microscopy