Synthesis of Two-Dimensional Materials Development and Automation of an Ultra-High Vacuum System

Abstract

Graphene is a two-dimensional (2D) semi-metal material consisting of a single layer of carbon. Due to its interesting and unique electrical, optical, thermal, and mechanical properties, synthesis of high quality graphene is essential in the development of devices that make use of 2D material properties. One way to study graphene growth is in an ultra-high vacuum (UHV) chamber. In order to get an ideally low pressure for the graphene growth, the whole chamber needs to be heated up to above 100? for a several days (bakeout). After bakeout, silicon carbide (SiC) substrate can be used for graphene growth with being heated by an e-beam heater, supplying emission current at the back of the sample. After graphene growth, it is important to study its surface (topography, crystal structure, etc). Low energy electron diffraction (LEED) is used to obtain the diffraction pattern and to characterize the surface properties of samples.