Research paperThe influence of the electron-beam exposure of SiO2/Si and quartz substrates on the selective growth of graphene-like films

•CVD-growth is affected by the preliminary e-beam irradiation of the substrate.•For SiO2 substrate, accumulated charge can affect the rate of CVD.•Graphene-like thin films can be selectively grown on non-metal surface.•Selectively grown films are transparent and have linear I-U characteristic.

A preliminary e-beam exposure of the substrate is found to strongly affect the process of further chemical vapor deposition (CVD). It is known that e-beam exposure can cause charging of dielectric films and a part of the charge remains in the film after exposure. However the accumulated charge has never been used to control the rate of CVD. In this work such a control is illustrated for the first time by a selective graphene-like films deposition on silicon dioxide. It is shown that the influence of substrate exposure on the graphene-like films growth is not related to carbon contamination, which can be formed on the sample surface in scanning electron microscope during electron exposure.The results suggest that the selective growth of graphene-like films on an irradiated SiO2/Si substrate is a promising approach to producing a microstructure at the pre-synthesis step without involving a full lithography process.

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