Fabrication of quasi-free-standing epitaxial graphene to realize graphene-based devices

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K19065
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Applied physics and engineering and related fields
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: SUEMITSU Maki 東北大学, 電気通信研究所, 名誉教授 (00134057)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 吹留 博一 東北大学, 電気通信研究所, 准教授 (10342841)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-06-30 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: グラフェン / エピタキシャルグラフェン / 炭化ケイ素 / マイクロ波加熱 / 界面層

Outline of Final Research Achievements

With its extremely high mobility, graphene attracts recent attention as a material for the next generation high-speed devices. Its realization has been impeded, however, by the lack of the elimination method for the interaction between graphene and its supporting substrate. This study proposed a novel method to eliminate the harmful buffer layer between graphene and the Si-terminated SiC substrate. The proposed "microwave annealing (MWA)" method has been proved to be quite effective in eliminating the buffer layer. The most striking point is that the method can realize equivalent elimination with the conventional method with a reduction of the process time by one order of magnitude.

Free Research Field

半導体表面工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

すぐれた物性を有するグラフェンも、基板との相互作用によってその性能をデバイス上で発揮できずにいた。本研究の成果は、グラフェンと基板の相互作用を机上の電子レンジで除去できるという画期的なものである。まだ大気圧下での酸化条件での検証に留まっているが、今後雰囲気制御を行うことによって更なる発展が見込める新技術である。