Synthesis of multilayer graphene on an atomically thin SiON layer grown on a SiC substrate

Multilayer graphene was synthesized on an atomically thin silicon oxynitride (SiON) layer. This SiON layer was itself grown on a SiC(0001) wafer. The number of graphene layers was approximately controlled through the manipulation of argon partial pressure and exposure time. Both SiC and Si wafers are standard and commercially available substrates in the semiconductor industry, underscoring the importance of growing graphene layers on these wafers without the need for a transfer process. The multilayer graphene’s characteristics were examined using Raman spectroscopy, with the number of layers determined by the ratios of the 2D and G peaks in the Raman spectra. The uniformity of the graphene layers was assessed using confocal Raman mapping. This method of directly growing multilayer graphene on SiON/SiC wafers can also be extended to other two-dimensional materials such as h-BN and MoS₂.