Thomas Seyller

Towards wafer-size graphene layers by atmospheric pressure graphitization of silicon carbide

Graphene, a single monolayer of graphite, has recently attracted considerable interest owing to its novel magneto-transport properties, high carrier mobility and ballistic transport up to room temperature. It has the potential for technological applications as a successor of silicon in the post Moores law era, as a single-molecule gas sensor, in spintronics, in quantum computing or as a terahertz oscillator. For such applications, uniform ordered growth of graphene on an insulating substrate is necessary. The growth of graphene on insulating silicon carbide (SiC) surfaces by high-temperature annealing in vacuum was previously proposed to open a route for large-scale production of graphene-based devices. However, vacuum decomposition of SiC yields graphene layers with small grains (30-200 nm; refs 14-16). Here, we show that the ex situ graphitization of Si-terminated SiC(0001) in an argon atmosphere of about 1 bar produces monolayer graphene films with much larger domain sizes than previously attainable. Raman spectroscopy and Hall measurements confirm the improved quality of the films thus obtained. High electronic mobilities were found, which reach mu=2,000 cm (2) V(-1) s(-1) at T=27 K. The new growth process introduced here establishes a method for the synthesis of graphene films on a technologically viable basis.

Science and technology roadmap for graphene, related two-dimensional crystals, and hybrid systems

We present the science and technology roadmap for graphene, related two-dimensional crystals, and hybrid systems, targeting an evolution in technology, that might lead to impacts and benefits reaching into most areas of society. This roadmap was developed within the framework of the European Graphene Flagship and outlines the main targets and research areas as best understood at the start of this ambitious project. We provide an overview of the key aspects of graphene and related materials (GRMs), ranging from fundamental research challenges to a variety of applications in a large number of sectors, highlighting the steps necessary to take GRMs from a state of raw potential to a point where they might revolutionize multiple industries. We also define an extensive list of acronyms in an effort to standardize the nomenclature in this emerging field.

Giant Faraday rotation in single- and multilayer graphene

The rotation of polarized light in certain materials when subject to a magnetic field is known as the Faraday effect. Remarkably, just one atomic layer of graphene exhibits Faraday rotations that would only be measurable in other materials many hundreds of micrometres thick.

Observation of Plasmarons in Quasi-Freestanding Doped Graphene

More Crossings for Graphene Graphene, which consists of single sheets of graphite, has a number of distinctive electronic properties, including a conical structure that leads to a “Dirac point” where the valence and conduction band intersect at a zero-energy point. Bostwick et al. (p. 999) used angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to study graphene that was doped with alkali atoms and suspended from its substrate. They observed features associated with plasmarons, which arise from the interaction of the charge carriers with plasmons, the density oscillations of the electron gas. The Dirac crossing now becomes three crossings: one that involves charge bands, one involving plasmarons, and one involving the interaction between the two. Doping of graphene introduces two new crossing points of the conduction and valance-electron bands. A hallmark of graphene is its unusual conical band structure that leads to a zero-energy band gap at a single Dirac crossing point. By measuring the spectral function of charge carriers in quasi-freestanding graphene with angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we showed that at finite doping, this well-known linear Dirac spectrum does not provide a full description of the charge-carrying excitations. We observed composite “plasmaron” particles, which are bound states of charge carriers with plasmons, the density oscillations of the graphene electron gas. The Dirac crossing point is resolved into three crossings: the first between pure charge bands, the second between pure plasmaron bands, and the third a ring-shaped crossing between charge and plasmaron bands.

Direct view of hot carrier dynamics in graphene.

The ultrafast dynamics of excited carriers in graphene is closely linked to the Dirac spectrum and plays a central role for many electronic and optoelectronic applications. Harvesting energy from excited electron-hole pairs, for instance, is only possible if these pairs can be separated before they lose energy to vibrations, merely heating the lattice. Until now, the hot carrier dynamics in graphene could only be accessed indirectly. Here, we present a dynamical view on the Dirac cone by time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. This allows us to show the quasi-instant thermalization of the electron gas to a temperature of ≈2000 K, to determine the time-resolved carrier density, and to disentangle the subsequent decay into excitations of optical phonons and acoustic phonons (directly and via supercollisions).

Doping of single-walled carbon nanotube bundles by Brønsted acids

Using X-ray induced photoelectron spectroscopy, the influence of Bronsted acids, namely sulfuric, nitric, and hydrochloric acid on the electronic properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) was investigated. Doping effects were monitored by changes in binding energy of the C 1s core level of the nanotubes. For all three acids, an acceptor type doping of the SWCNTs was observed by a shift of the C 1s core level towards lower binding energies. The inferred change of the Fermi-level position was 0.5 eV in the case of H2SO4, 0.2 eV in the case of HNO3, and 0.1 eV in the case of HCl. For HNO3 and HCl the doping was found to be unstable. The S 2p, N 1s, and Cl 2p core level spectra of the corresponding acid showed spectral features which can be attributed to the respective oxidation state of these anions in the acid, indicating that doping was induced by intercalation.

Quantum oscillations and quantum Hall effect in epitaxial graphene

Johannes Jobst, Daniel Waldmann, Florian Speck, Roland Hirner, Duncan K. Maude, Thomas Seyller, and Heiko B. Weber ∗ Lehrstuhl für Angewandte Physik, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, 91056 Erlangen, Germany Lehrstuhl für Technische Physik, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, 91056 Erlangen, Germany Laboratoire des Champs Magnétiques Intenses, 25 Avenue des Martyrs, 38042 Grenoble,France (Dated: August 14, 2009)

Morphology of graphene thin film growth on SiC(0001)

Epitaxial films of graphene on SiC(0001) are interesting from a basic physics as well as an applications-oriented point of view. Here, we study the emerging morphology of in vacuo prepared graphene films using low-energy electron microscopy (LEEM) and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). We obtain an identification of single-layer and bilayer graphene films by comparing the characteristic features in electron reflectivity spectra in LEEM to the ?-band structure as revealed by ARPES. We demonstrate that LEEM serves as a tool to accurately determine the local extent of graphene layers as well as the layer thickness.

Raman Topography and Strain Uniformity of Large-Area Epitaxial Graphene

We report results of Raman spectroscopy studies of large-area epitaxial graphene grown on SiC. Our work reveals unexpectedly large variation in Raman shift resulting from graphene strain inhomogeneity, which is shown to be correlated with physical topography by coupling Raman spectroscopy with atomic force microscopy. We show that graphene strain can vary over a distance shorter than 300 nm and may be uniform only over roughly 1 microm. We show that nearly strain-free graphene is possible even in epitaxial graphene.

Highly p-doped epitaxial graphene obtained by fluorine intercalation

We present a method for decoupling epitaxial graphene grown on SiC(0001) by intercalation of a layer of fluorine at the interface. The fluorine atoms do not enter into a covalent bond with graphene but rather saturate the substrate Si bonds. This configuration of the fluorine atoms induces a remarkably large hole density of p≈4.5×1013 cm−2, equivalent to the location of the Fermi level at 0.79 eV above the Dirac point ED.