Heteroepitaxial nucleation and growth of graphene nanowalls on silicon Original Research Article

Heteroepitaxial nucleation of {0 0 2} graphene sheets on {1 1 1} facets of plasma treated (1 0 0) silicon by direct-current plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition in methane–hydrogen gas mixtures is confirmed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Lattice mismatch by 12% is compensated by tilting the graphene {0 0 2} with respect to silicon {1 1 1} and matching the silicon lattice with fewer graphene layers. The interlayer spacing of graphene sheets near the silicon surface is 0.355 nm, which is larger than that of AB stacked graphite and confirmed as AA stacked graphitic phase. Subsequent growth of standing graphene nanowalls is characterized by scanning electron microscopy and Raman scattering (633 and 514 nm excitation). The Raman peaks of D-band, G-band, and 2D-band are discussed in correlation with SEM images of graphene nanowalls. A strong Raman peak corresponding to silicon–hydrogen stretch vibration is detected by 633 nm excitation at the early stage of graphene nucleation, indicating the silicon substrate etched by hydrogen plasma. With these analyses, the growth mechanism is also proposed in this paper.