High-Mobility Epitaxial Graphene on Ge/Si(100) Substrates

Graphene was shown to reveal intriguing properties of its relativistic two-dimensional electron gas; however, its implementation to microelectronic applications is missing to date. In this work, we present a comprehensive study of epitaxial graphene on technologically relevant and in a standard CMOS process achievable Ge(100) epilayers grown on Si(100) substrates. Crystalline graphene monolayer structures were grown by means of chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and in situ surface transport measurements, we demonstrate their metallic character both in momentum and real space. Despite numerous crystalline imperfections, e.g., grain boundaries and strong corrugation, as compared to epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001), charge carrier mobilities of 1 × 10⁴ cm²/Vs were obtained at room temperature, which is a result of the quasi-charge neutrality within the graphene monolayers on germanium and not dependent on the presence of an interface oxide. The interface roughness due to the facet structure of the Ge(100) epilayer, formed during the CVD growth of graphene, can be reduced via subsequent in situ annealing up to 850 °C coming along with an increase in the mobility by 30%. The formation of a Ge(100)-(2 × 1) structure demonstrates the weak interaction and effective delamination of graphene from the Ge/Si(100) substrate.