Berlin 2015 – scientific programme

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TT: Fachverband Tiefe Temperaturen

TT 117: Graphene: Intercalation (jointly with O, HL)

TT 117.3: Talk

Friday, March 20, 2015, 11:00–11:15, MA 041

Nitrogen Intercalation and Nitrogen-based Molecular Doping of Epitaxial Graphene on 6H-SiC(0001) — •Nuala Mai Caffrey, Rickard Armiento, Rositsa Yakimova, and Igor Abrikosov — Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM), Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

The thermal decomposition of silicon carbide (SiC) is one of the most promising methods to produce high-quality epitaxial graphene on a wafer scale. Sufficient control has even been achieved to selectively grow monolayer, bilayer and few-layer graphene, rendering it a indispensable technique for the manufacture of graphene-based electronics. A disadvantage of this method is that the first carbon layer is covalently bonded to the surface Si atoms, with only subsequent layers displaying the characteristic electronic features of graphene. Several methods have been proposed to electronically decouple this buffer layer, as well as to reduce the high substrate-induced doping, including intercalation and chemical doping. Understanding such chemical functionalisations is a fundamental first step towards engineering the properties of graphene on SiC. It is clear that the graphene layer, as well as the interface between it and the SiC surface, can be significantly influenced by the growth environment. We consider how common environmental dopants can affect the electronic structure of mono- and bilayer graphene grown on a 6H-SiC(0001) substrate. We show, using first-principles calculations, how nitrogen intercalation and nitrogen-based molecular dopants, such as NO2 and NH3, present a promising route to tailor the properties of this system.