FE-LEEM/PEEM P90 AC

The crystallinity of graphene flakes and their orientation with respect to the Cu(111) substrate are investigated by means of low-energy electron microscopy (LEEM). The interplay between graphene and the metal substrate during chemical vapor deposition (CVD) introduces a restructuring of the metal surface into surface facets, which undergo a step bunching process during the growth of additional layers. Moreover, the surface facets introduce strain between the successively nucleated layers that follow the topography in a carpet-like fashion. The strain leads to dislocations in between domains of relaxed Bernal stacking. After the transfer onto an epitaxial buffer layer, the imprinted rippled structure of even monolayer graphene as well as the stacking dislocations are preserved. A similar behavior might also be expected for other CVD grown 2D materials such as hexagonal boron nitride or transition metal dichalcogenides, where stacking relations after transfer on a target substrate or heterostructure could become important in future experiments.

P. Schädlich, F. Speck, C. Bouhafs, N. Mishra, S.Forti, C. Coletti, and T. Seyller
Adv. Funct. Mater, Volume 8, Issue 7, April 9, 2021, 2002025

Generally, it is supposed that the Fermi level in epitaxial graphene is controlled by two effects: p-type polarization doping induced by the bulk of the hexagonal silicon carbide (SiC)(0001) substrate and overcompensation by donor-like states related to the buffer layer. The presented work is evidence that this effect is also related to the specific underlying SiC terrace. Here a periodic sequence of non-identical SiC terraces is fabricated, which are unambiguously attributed to specific SiC surface terminations. A clear correlation between the SiC termination and the electronic graphene properties is experimentally observed and confirmed by various complementary surface-sensitive methods. This correlation is attributed to a proximity effect of the SiC termination-dependent polarization doping on the overlying graphene layer. These findings open a new approach for a nano-scale doping-engineering by the self-patterning of epitaxial graphene and other 2D layers on dielectric polar substrates.

D. M. Pakdehi, P. Schädlich, T. T. N. Nguyen, A. A. Zakharov, S. Wundrack, E. Najafidehaghani, F. Speck, K. Pierz, T. Seyller, C. Tegenkamp, and H. W. Schumacher
Adv. Funct. Mater, Volume 30, Issue 45, November 4, 2020, 2004695

Charge transport measurements form an essential tool in condensed matter physics. The usual approach is to contact a sample by two or four probes, measure the resistance and derive the resistivity, assuming homogeneity within the sample. A more thorough understanding, however, requires knowledge of local resistivity variations. Spatially resolved information is particularly important when studying novel materials like topological insulators, where the current is localized at the edges, or quasi-two-dimensional (2D) systems, where small-scale variations can determine global properties. Here, we demonstrate a new method to determine spatially-resolved voltage maps of current-carrying samples. This technique is based on low-energy electron microscopy (LEEM) and is therefore quick and non-invasive. It makes use of resonance-induced contrast, which strongly depends on the local potential. We demonstrate our method using single to triple layer graphene. However, it is straightforwardly extendable to other quasi-2D systems, most prominently to the upcoming class of layered van der Waals materials.

J. Kautz, J. Jobst, C. Sorger, R. M. Tromp, H. B. Weber und S. J. van der Molen
Scientific Reports volume 5, Article number: 13604 (2015)