AFM study of ridges in few-layer epitaxial graphene grown on the carbon-face of 4H–SiC(0001¯)

A characterization of the graphitic overlayer that forms on 4H–SiC(0001¯) substrates heated for ten minutes to temperatures T > 1350 °C under vacuum conditions has been performed. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of the C-face reveals the presence of graphitic carbon with a thickness that increases with growth temperature. Parallel atomic force microscope (AFM) studies find a mesh-like network of ridges with high curvature that bound atomically flat, tile-like facets of few-layer graphene (FLG). By imaging the network that develops on FLG, it is possible to map out the regions where the elastic energy is concentrated.