Direct Growth of Graphene on Silicon by Metal-Free Chemical Vapor Deposition

• DOI: 10.1007/s40820-017-0173-1
• Publication Date: 2017-12-07T23:16:26Z
• Authors: Lixuan Tai; Daming Zhu; Xing Liu; Tieying Yang; Lei Wang; Rui Wang; Sheng Jiang; Zhenhua Chen; Zhongmin Xu; Xiaolong Li
• Keywords: Silicon; Technology; Metal-free CVD; Domain growth; T; 02 engineering and technology; Graphene; 0210 nano-technology; Article

The metal-free synthesis of graphene on single-crystal silicon substrates, the most common commercial semiconductor, is of paramount significance for many technological applications. In this work, we report the growth of graphene directly on an upside-down placed, single-crystal silicon substrate using metal-free, ambient-pressure chemical vapor deposition. By controlling the growth temperature, in-plane propagation, edge-propagation, and core-propagation, the process of graphene growth on silicon can be identified. This process produces atomically flat monolayer or bilayer graphene domains, concave bilayer graphene domains, and bulging few-layer graphene domains. This work would be a significant step toward the synthesis of large-area and layer-controlled, high-quality graphene on single-crystal silicon substrates.