Epitaxial graphene
Epitaxial graphene
Walt A. de Heer a,∗ Claire Berger a,b Xiaosong Wu a
Phillip N. First a Edward H. Conrad a Xuebin Li a Tianbo Li a
Michael Sprinkle a Joanna Hass a Marcin L. Sadowski b
Marek Potemski b Gerard Martinez b
aSchool of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA
bGrenoble High Magnetic Field Laboratory, CNRS, Grenoble, France
Abstract
Graphene multilayers are grown epitaxially on single crystal silicon carbide. This
system is composed of several graphene layers of which the first layer is electron
doped due to the built-in electric field and the other layers are essentially undoped.
Unlike graphite the charge carriers show Dirac particle properties (i.e. an anoma-
lous Berry’s phase, weak anti-localization and square root field dependence of the
Landau level energies). Epitaxial graphene shows quasi-ballistic transport and long
coherence lengths; properties which may persists above cryogenic temperatures.
Paradoxically, in contrast to exfoliated graphene, the quantum Hall effect is not ob-
served in high mobility epitaxial graphene. It appears that the effect is suppressed
due to absence of localized states in the bulk of the material.Epitaxial graphene can
be patterned using standard lithography methods and characterized using a wide
array of techniques. These favorable features indicate that interconnected room
temperature ballistic devices may be feasible for low dissipation high-speed nano-
electronics.
Key words:
PACS:
∗ Corresponding author.
Email address: deheer@electra.physics.gatech.edu (Walt A. de Heer).
Preprint submitted to Solid State Communications 12 February 2013
http://arxiv.org/abs/0704.0285v1
1 Introduction
Carbon nanotubes are prototypical of quasi-one dimensional graphene nanos-
tructures. The approximate electronic structure of a carbon nanotube with
diameter D is understood starting from the graphene dispersion relation, i.e.
the Dirac cone E = ~v0|k|, and quantizing the angular momentum about the
axis so that En = ~v0
k2z + k
n, where kn = (n + a)π/R, where a is 0 or 1/2
depending on whether the nanotube is metallic or semiconducting. A metal-
lic nanotube has two dispersionless bands that cross the Fermi level while a
semiconducting nanotube has a band-gap Eg = γ0a0/R ∼ 0.4eV·nm/R. This
property, that graphene nanostructures can be metallic or semiconducting de-
pending on their shape carries over to nanopatterned graphene ribbons as
shown below.
High purity multiwalled carbon nanotubes (as well as single walled nanotubes)
were found to be room-temperature ballistic conductors [1]. This property re-
quires (at least) that electrons traverse the length of the nanotube without
scattering. This discovery coincided with predictions of the effect by Ando
[2,3], and by Todorov and White [4] who demonstrated that the chiral nature
of the charge carriers in nanotubes inhibits backscattering [in all graphene
structures (including graphene), chirality results from the equivalence of the
A and B sub-lattices]. Ando first recognized the formal analogy between neu-
trino wave functions and those that describe electrons near the Fermi level
in nanotubes (and in graphene). Neutrinos are massless fermions that are de-
scribed by the Weyl’s equation (or massless Dirac equation) [3]. The quantum
number associated with chirality is the pseudospin which, like spin, can have
two values. Unlike spin, the pseudospin is coupled to the momentum. In order
to backscatter an electron, the scattering potential must reverse both the mo-
mentum and the pseudospin. Interactions that act equivalently on A and B
atoms (like long-range potentials) conserve pseudospin and cannot backscatter
charge carriers.
Ballistic conduction is only one of the favorable electronic properties of carbon
nanotubes. Others are the extremely weak electron-phonon coupling [1,5], the
excellent FET characteristics [6], and the robustness of the material itself. All
of these properties indicate that nanotubes could be used for nanoelectronics.
Unfortunately, incorporation of nanotubes in large-scale integrated electronic
architectures proves to be so daunting that it may never be realized. Harness-
ing these properties requires graphitic materials that are related to carbon
nanotubes, but which are more manageable.
Precisely these theoretical considerations led us in 2001 to speculate that 2D
graphene could serve these purposes. We initiated experiments on epitaxially
grown graphene on single crystal silicon carbide. Much of the earlier efforts fo-
cused on producing and characterizing the epitaxial graphene material. While
we have achieved some success, much work remains. To fully exploit the prop-
erties of nanopatterned epitaxial graphene, one must control the graphene
material, its structure, and the chemistry and morphology of defined edges.
These are the challenges for graphene-based nanoelectronics. The most im-
portant feature of 2D epitaxial graphene is that interconnected structures
can in principle be patterned on the scale of an entire wafer. If, like carbon
nanotubes, the carriers remain ballistic, it will lead to a fascinating world of
coherent carbon-based electronics.
The discovery of the intriguing properties of deposited exfoliated graphene has
recently caused overwhelming excitement in the 2D electron gas community
[7,8,9,10]. This very fascinating material clearly demonstrates the chiral na-
ture of the charge carriers, as it manifests in several properties, of which the
anomalous phase in the quantum Hall effect is the most striking. The spon-
taneous rippling caused by the Mermin-Wagner transition [11,12,13] and the
absence of the weak anti-localization, possibly due to the gauge field at the
ripples [14], as well as the recently discovered high-field splitting of the Landau
levels [15] are all very important effects that still require full explanation.
The possibility that epitaxial graphene may serve as a platform for carbon-
based nanoelectronics has further greatly amplified the interest in this field,
especially in the electronics community. However, epitaxial graphene and de-
posited exfoliated graphene are very different materials. Epitaxial graphene is
generally multi-layered whereas exfoliated graphene has only one layer. There-
fore, epitaxial graphene, is a much more complex material; in fact it represents
a class of materials. It may seem that epitaxial graphene is simply ultrathin
graphite, but this is emphatically not so. Experimentally, the charge carri-
ers in epitaxial graphene are found to be chiral and the band structure is
clearly related to the Dirac cone [16,17,18,19,20,21]. To lowest order, epitaxial
graphene appears to consist of stacked, non-interacting graphene sheets, the
first of which is highly charged and the others carry much lower charge. In con-
trast to deposited exfoliated graphene, anomalous phase-transition-like state-
changes are often observed in transport measurements of epitaxial graphene,
that are probably related to weak interlayer interactions.
These first measurements suggest that, like most layered quasi-2D conducting
materials, epitaxial graphene is poised to present a host of interesting new
phenomena. A snapshot of the emerging science and technology of epitaxial
graphene is given here.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Number of graphene layers
100 200 300 400 500
Energy(eV)
(a) Si:C=0.75
(b) Si:C=1.59
(c) Si:C=0.14
Fig. 1. Model of Si:C Auger peak intensity ratio versus number of graphene layers
for SiC(0001) substrates. Solid line: Model with interface layer of C adatoms at
1/3 their bilayer density. Dotted line: Model with interface layer of Si adatoms at
1/3 their bilayer density. Dashed line: Model with bulk-terminated SiC(0001). Inset
shows Auger spectra obtained after (a) ex-situ H2 etching (no UHV preparation),
(b) UHV anneal at 1150◦C (LEED
3 pattern), (c) UHV anneal at 1350◦C
(LEED 6
3 × 6
3 pattern).
2 Epitaxial graphene formation and characterization
It is well known that ultrathin graphitic films grow on hexagonal silicon
carbide crystals [22,23,24,25,26]. Specifically they grow on the 0001 (silicon-
terminated) and 0001 (carbon-terminated) faces of 4H- and 6H-SiC when crys-
tals are heated to about 1300◦C in ultra-high vacuum (UHV). It is also possi-
ble to grow these films at more moderate vacuum conditions using ovens with
controlled background gas. The epitaxial growth is established by examining,
for example, the LEED patterns after various growth times (see e.g., Fig. 3).
Growth on the Si face is slow and terminates after relatively short times at high
temperatures. The growth on the carbon face apparently does not self-limit
so that relatively thick layers (∼ 4 up to 100 layers) can be achieved.
For thin layers, we can estimate the graphene thickness by modeling mea-
sured Auger-electron intensities [16] or photoelectron intensities [17]. Fig. 1
shows model results for the Si:C Auger intensity ratio for graphene grown on
SiC(0001) substrates, with three different assumptions for the interface layer
between bulk SiC and the graphene layers (see caption). The Auger model,
valid for both 4H and 6H polytypes, includes the relative sensitivity factors
for Si and C [27], attenuation of the 3keV incident electrons and of the Auger
electrons exiting from successively deeper layers [28,29,30], and the electron
collection angle (42◦). Thicker multilayer graphene can be measured via con-
ventional ellipsometry.
Scanning tunneling microscopy images of monolayer graphene on the surfaces
of 4H- and 6H-SiC(0001) (Si-face) show large flat regions with a characteristic
Fig. 2. STM topographs (0.8 V sample bias, 100 pA) of nominally 1 ML epitaxial
graphene on SiC(0001). Top: Image showing large flat regions of 6
3 × 6
3 re-
construction and regions where the reconstruction has not fully formed. Next-layer
islands are also seen. Bottom: A region of 6
3 reconstruction, imaged through
the overlying graphene layer.
hexagonal corrugation of ∼ 0.3 Å on a 1.9-nm period (Fig. 2). Small-scale
images resolve the graphene atomic lattice throughout [16,23], but with a
factor 10×-20× smaller amplitude. Imaging for the monolayer is apparently
dominated by interface states of an underlying reconstruction of the SiC. In
conjunction with the graphene overlayer is a 6
3 × 6
3R30◦ reconstruction
with respect to the bulk-terminated SiC surface. The detailed reconstruction
of this surface is still a matter of debate [31]. Successive graphene layers show
much less influence of the interface states [16], but the 1.9-nm corrugation
period (6 × 6 with respect to the SiC bulk-terminated surface) is still visible
in both STM and LEED for the thickest Si-face films we have prepared [5-6
monolayers (ML)].
To date, most transport measurements have been done on multilayer graphene
grown on the carbon face [SiC(0001) substrates]. This material is grown in an
RF-induction furnace at pressures of ∼ 10−5 Torr. Because the initial film-
growth is very rapid, it is rare to obtain films thin enough for direct STM
and LEED studies of those layers near the SiC interface. As a consequence of
charge transfer from the SiC, these layers are the most important for electrical
transport. Surface x-ray scattering has proved to be a useful tool for extracting
quantitative information about the C-face-grown material.
Figure 3 shows LEED patterns from two graphene films grown on 4H-SiC(0001)
substrates. According to the Auger ratios, these were nominally (a) 3 ML
graphene, and (b) 4 ML graphene. The LEED pattern in Fig. 3(a) shows rel-
 = 0.022Å-1
 = 0.003Å-1
 (Å-1)
2.90 2.92 2.94 2.96 2.98 3.00
Si-Face
C-Face
Graphite (011) 
rotated 32.2o
 = 0.005Å-1
φφφφ (degrees)
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
-2.2o 2.2o
φφφφ (degrees)
-33 -32 -31 -30 -29 -28 -27
(011) Graphite
Graphite [01 ]
(c) (d)
(a) (b)Graphite
[1100]
[1000]
Fig. 3. LEED and x-ray diffraction from multilayer graphene grown on 4H-SiC(0001)
substrates. (a) LEED pattern (71 eV) for ∼ 3 ML graphene, (b) LEED pattern (103
eV) for ∼ 4 ML graphene (unlabeled sets of 6-fold spots in (a) and (b) are from a√
3R30◦ SiC interface reconstruction). (c) Radial x-ray scans through (top) the
(10ℓ) graphite rod, and (bottom) across the diffuse arcs seen in (b). (d) Azimuthal
x-ray scans across (top) the graphite (10ℓ) rod and (bottom) the diffuse rods seen
in (b).
atively good registry to the SiC substrate (with the unit cell rotated by 30◦,
as for Si-face material), whereas the film in Fig. 3(b) shows some rotational
disorder. The evidence suggests that epitaxial growth does occur at the inter-
face, but that succeeding graphene sheets do not have strong rotational order.
Interestingly, the diffuse rings in Fig. 3(b) are clearly centered around a mini-
mum in intensity on the SiC azimuth, indicating some preferential alignment,
as discussed below.
While there is azimuthal disorder in the film, the long range vertical order of
the film is much larger than is observed for Si-face grown films [32]. This is
demonstrated in Fig. 3(c) that shows radial x-ray diffraction scans through
both the graphite (10ℓ) graphite rod (φ = −30.0◦ in the [1100] SiC direction)
and through the diffuse rings (φ = 2.2◦ in the SiC [1000] direction). The x-
ray profiles for both the (10ℓ = 1.5) and diffuse rods on the C-face graphene
are nearly 10 times narrower than those for Si-face films. The profile widths
are inversely related to the size of order graphene domains; L = 2π/∆qr. For
Si-face films the order graphene regions are ∼ 290Å while for the C-face films
the domains are ∼ 2100Å. The domain size estimated this way is most likely
a lower limit on the actual size of a graphene sheet. A continuous graphene
sheet (typically 3000Å terrace width) folded over a SiC step would break the
scattered x-ray coherence from the two regions, but may have a much smaller
influence on the electronic structure. Note that even the diffuse rings have
domain sizes of ∼ 1200Å.
In fact, the rotationally disordered graphene has a structure. Fig. 3(d) shows x-
ray azimuthal scans through both the graphite (10ℓ) and diffuse graphite rods.
The diffuse rings are in fact peaked at ±2.2◦ relative to the SiC azimuth. This
angle is not arbitrary. It corresponds to a structure were two vertically stacked
graphene sheets are commensurate if rotated with respect to one another by
cos 11/13 = 32.204◦ [33]. Both 30◦ and ±2.204◦ rotated graphene are also
nearly commensurate with the SiC 6
3 × 6
3 R30 seen in Si-face grown
graphene [see Fig. 3(a)] It therefore seems that during graphitization large
graphene sheets are free to rotate with respect to each other and lock in, on
average, to these preferred orientations on the SiC C-face.
In addition to the difference in long range and orientational order of films
grown on the two polar faces of SiC, the vertical roughness of the multilayer
graphene is very different. X-ray diffraction reveals that the rms roughness of
the C-face multilayer films is less than 0.05 Å over the 2 µm coherence length
of the beam [34]. On the Si-face the roughness is much larger (∼ 0.2Å [35]),
presumably as a consequence of the 6 × 6 corrugation (see Fig. 2).
Finally, x-ray reflectivity experiments show two other important features of
multilayer graphene grown on the C-face of SiC. First, the first layer of
graphene sits 1.62Å above the last SiC layer [34,36]. This bond length is nearly
equal to the bond length of diamond (1.54Å) and suggest that the substrate
bond to the first graphene layer is much stronger than a van der Waals in-
teraction. In fact ab intio calculations find and very similar bond distance
[36]. These calculations show that the first graphene layer is in fact insulat-
ing. Only the formation of the second graphene layer gives rise to an electron
dispersion curve showing a Dirac cone. Thus the first graphene layer can be
interpreted as a “buffer” layer between the substrate and an isolated layer
with the electronic properties of an isolated graphene sheet.
The second important result from the x-ray reflectivity is that the graphene
interlayer spacing is significantly larger than bulk graphite [34]. The measured
value is 3.368Å which is between the value of bulk graphite and turbostratic
graphite. This larger spacing suggest a significant density of stacking faults.
This is not too surprising given the rotational disorder in the C-face films.
For a random stacking fault model the layer spacing can be used to estimate
the stacking fault density to be one every other layer [34,37]. This type of
density suggest that the AB stacking order, that would destroy the graphene
electronic character, is nearly lost in these films and may significantly impact
the transport properties of these films.
Fig. 4. Infrared transmission spectroscopy of epitaxial graphene with about 10 layers
revealing Landau level structure. (a) Infrared transmission spectrum at B = 0.4 T
and T = 1.9 K, showing a series of absorption peaks. (Inset) The absorption maxima
positions as a function of field showing the
B dependence that is characteristic
for a chiral “massless” Dirac particle. (b) Schematic diagram of the Landau levels
En(B) in which the only parameter is v0 that is found to be 10
8 cm/s. The arrows
indicate the observed transitions. EF is determined from the lowest field for which
the n = 0 to n = 1 transition is observed.
3 Landau level spectroscopy of epitaxial graphene
Dirac particle properties of the charge carries in epitaxial graphene multilayers
have been beautifully demonstrated in Landau Level spectroscopy by Sadowski
et al. [20]. (See Sadowski et. al. in this issue for a summary and update).
We summarize some of the results here. In these measurements, an epitaxial
graphene sample is illuminated by infrared light in a magnetic field at low
temperatures. The absorption is measured as a function of photon energy at
various magnetic field strengths. An example of such a spectrum is shown
in Fig. 4. The various absorption lines are identified as transitions between
various Landau levels. The transitions energy are found to accurately follow
En = v0
2ne~B. The exact
B dependence is the hallmark of a ”massless”
Dirac particle (more precisely, of a linear density of states); massive particles
have a linear B dependence. Moreover, a gap at the tip of the Dirac cone
also distorts the
B behavior. The Fermi velocity is determined from the
dispersion of the transitions with magnetic field to be v0 = 1.03 × 108 cm/s,
which is close to its value for exfoliated graphene. The n = 0 to n = 1
transition is observed only for B ≥ 0.16 T, which indicates that the n = 1
level is just depopulated at that field. Hence, -15 meV < EF < 15 meV and
n ≈ 1.5×1010 /cm2 and the Fermi wavelength is ≈ 300 nm. It is further found
that the intensity of the signal scales with the thickness of the film. These
experiments demonstrate that epitaxial graphene consists of stacked graphene
layers, whose electronic band structure is characterized by a Dirac cone with
chiral charge carriers. Remarkably, there is no evidence for a gap nor for a
SiC with 
scratches
Flatten SiC by H2
etching Graphitization
Deposit
contacts
E-beam
lithography
DevelopO2 plasma 
Lift off HSQ 
Bare SiC HSQ Exposed 
Graphene Metal
contact
Resist spin-
coating
bonding
Fig. 5. Patterning epitaxial graphene
deviation of the linear density of states: undistorted Dirac cone properties are
directly observed as close as 20 meV to the Dirac point in the n = 0 − n = 1
transitions.
Epitaxial graphene is clearly not graphite, which has a different spectrum and
an entirely different electronic structure (see Sadowski et al. in this issue). This
difference reflects that epitaxial graphene does not have the Bernal stacking
that would lift the pseudospin degeneracy [34]. Hence epitaxial graphene is a
form of multilayered graphene that is structurally and electronically distinct
from graphite. These experiments probe the low charge density bulk of the
epitaxial graphene layer. Below we discuss the highly charged interface layer.
4 Patterning epitaxial graphene
Epitaxial graphene samples are patterned using a variety of microelectronics
patterning methods. Features down to several tens of nanometers are produced
by standard e-beam lithography methods. The method is outlined in Fig. 5.
5 Transport in 2D epitaxial graphene
The first published transport measurements on epitaxial graphene were made
on a Hall bar patterned on a graphene film with about 3 layers on the sili-
con face of 4H-SiC [16]. The mobility of the sample was relatively low (1100
cm2/V·s) nevertheless the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations are clearly distin-
guished (see Fig. 6) [38]. Resistance maxima in graphene are expected at
fields Bn when the Fermi energy intercept the Landau levels, i.e. for EF =
2ne~Bn, where v0 ≈ 108 cm/s is the Fermi velocity, hence Bn = (EF /v0)2/2ne~ =
B1/n. For normal electrons maxima are found when EF = (n + 1/2)eBn~/m,
Fig. 6. 2D transport measured in a 400 µm by 600 µm Hall bar on 3 layer epitaxial
graphene on the Si face. Mobility µ = 1200 cm2/V·s, coherence length lφ = 300 nm.
(a) Magnetoresistance at T =0.3, 2 and 4 K showing well developed SdH peaks,
indicated with their Landau indices n; the Hall resistance at 0.3 K (dashed line),
shows a weak feature at the expected Hall plateau position. The amplitude of the
weak localization peak at B = 0 corresponds to 1G0. (b) Landau plot; the linear
extrapolation passes through the origin demonstrating the anomalous Berry’s phase
characteristic of graphene. (c) The Lifshitz-Kosevich analysis of the n = 2 and n = 3
peaks which correspond to graphene with a Fermi velocity vF = 7.2 × 105 cm/s.
hence Bn = EF m/(n + 1/2)~e. Therefore the Landau plot (a plot of n ver-
sus 1/Bn) of a Dirac particle intercepts the origin whereas the Landau plot
of a normal electron intercepts the y axis at n = 1/2. The intercept should
occur at 0 when the Berry’s phase is anomalous. This shows that the Landau
plot provides a ready method to identify a Dirac particle when the quantum
Hall measurements are not feasible. The Landau plot (Fig. 7) for data on a
sample similar to the one of [16] passes through the origin indicating that the
Berry’s phase is anomalous. The Hall coefficient at 0.3 K is found to be 330
Ω/T corresponding to a charge density of 2 × 1012 electrons/cm2. (Note that
for a Dirac particle it should be 6500/B1 = 450 Ω/T.) From v0 = 10
8 cm/s
we further find that EF ≈ 1680 K. The large charge density is caused by the
built-in electric field at the SiC-graphene interface, which dopes the interfa-
cial graphene layer. This layer carries most of the current (and causes the SdH
oscillations). The charge density of the top layers is more than 2 order of mag-
nitude smaller (see above) and they are expected to be much more resistive.
The temperature dependence of the SdH peak amplitudes is determined by
the Landau level spacing En+1(B)−En(B) and given by the Lifshitz-Kosevich
equation: An(T ) ∼ u/ sinh(u) where u = 2πk2BT/∆E(B) [39]. From this fit
we find that at B = 7 T, (E3(B) − E2(B))/kB = 250 K (compared with 340
K predicted for graphene at this carrier density) and that the Dirac point is
about 1290 K below EF .
This sample shows ample evidences that the carriers in the high-charge-density
layer, like those in the low-density layers, are Dirac electrons. However the
quantum Hall effect is not observed. Instead, only weak undulations are seen
in the Hall resistance. It was assumed that higher mobility samples would
enhance the QHE and subsequent work progressed in that direction. Note also
the intense weak localization peak near B = 0 indicative of significant point-
defect scattering. Due to the high current density, the interface graphene layer
dominates the transport, although the other layers are expected to contribute,
and more so in 2D structures than in quasi 1D structures (see below).
Graphene grown on the Si face typically has low electron mobilities. The very
thin films are relatively unprotected from even slight residual oxidizing gases
that damage the graphene [32]. Work is still progressing to improve Si face
graphene films.
On the other hand, graphene grown on the C face has much higher mobili-
ties [18]. The films are also considerably thicker so that the high-density layer
at the interface is more protected [34]. Fig. 7 shows the MR measurements
of a Hall bar (100 µm ×1000 µm) at several temperatures [21]. The SdH
oscillations are barely discernable, which is generally the case for our high
mobility 2D samples. The reason for this is not likely due to sample inho-
mogeneity. The Landau plot of the oscillations reveals the anomalous Berry’s
phase, characteristic of Dirac electrons. Furthermore the charge density is
3.8× 1012 electrons/cm2. The charge density from the Hall effect is 4.6× 1012
electrons/cm2. The Lishitz-Kosevich analysis of the peak heights agrees with
the expected Landau level spacing for a Dirac particle.
A striking feature of this sample is that the weak localization peak is very
weak, ∼ 0.07G0 (compared with the sample in Fig. 6) which indicates that
point defect density in this sample is low and these defects are possibly lo-
calized entirely at the patterned edges of the Hall bar. On the other hand, a
marked temperature dependent depression of the conductance at low fields is
observed. This feature suggests weak anti-localization that is expected when
Dirac electrons are scattered by long-range potentials [2,3]. These could be due
to the localized counterions in the SiC substrate. In fact the amplitude, field
and temperature dependence of this feature match predictions of the weak
anti-localization very well [40].
Another typical feature is the large positive magnetoresistance and a kink in
the Hall resistance at low fields. These features (as well as the small discrep-
ancy in the charge density) could be due to the other layers of density n . 1010
−5 0 5
B (T)
−0.02 0 0.02
−0.02 0 0.02
B (T)
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
B (T)
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4
1/B (T−1)
0 2 4 6 8
B (T)
(a) (b)
(d) (e)
Fig. 7. 2D transport in a 100 µm × 1000 µm Hall bar on a ∼10 layer eptitaxial
graphene film on the C face. a) Resistance as a function of the magnetic field. Inset,
dash-dot lines, low field MR at various temperatures (1.4, 4.2, 7, 10, 15, 20, 30,
50 K). (b) Low field MR after subtracting 50 K data as a background. dash-dot
lines, experimental data, which show suppressed weak localization peak around
zero. The positive MR above 0.02 T reveal the weak anti-localization effect. Solid
lines, fits to the theory by McCann et al.. (c) High field MR after subtracting a
parabolic background at several temperatures(4, 7, 15, 30 K). Well defined SdH
oscillations can be seen down to 2.5 T. (d) Landau plot for SdH oscillations, which
intercept y axis at zero. (e) Landau level spacing obtained by Lifshitz-Kosevich
analysis. Squares: experiment. Solid line, theoretical prediction for ∆E assuming
vF = 0.82 × 108 cm/s, dash-dot line: vF = 108 cm/s.
/cm2 [20], although no SdH features can be attributed to them. It should be
noted that the critical field Bc for which extreme quantum limit is reached
(where EF coincides with the n = 0 Landau level, i.e. at about 30 meV above
the Dirac point) is also very low: Bc ≤ 160 mT (see Fig. 4).
The Hall resistance is featureless (except for extremely weak ripples) and shows
no evidence for quantum Hall plateaus, as is for a typical high mobility 2D
samples.
The transport properties of a narrower ribbon are shown in Fig. 8. It is at
once clear that the SdH oscillations are much more pronounced. The Landau
plot corresponds quite well with the expectations for a Dirac particle with a
velocity 0.7×108 cm/s. This ribbon shows evidence for weak anti-localization.
A more pronounced weak localization peak compared with Fig. 7 is observed.
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
B (T)
0 0.1 0.2 0.3
 (T−1)
0 5 10
B (T)
(b) (c)
Fig. 8. Intermediate width Hall bar: 1 µm × 5 µm. The zero field resistance is 502
Ω. (a) High field MR after subtracting a smooth background at several tempera-
tures(4, 10, 20, 30, 50, 70 K). (b) Landau plot. B1 = 53T, intercept 0.13±0.02 (c)
Square: Landau level spacing ∆E obtained by fitting the temperature dependence of
SdH amplitudes to LK equation. Solid line, theoretical prediction for ∆E assuming
vF = 0.7 × 108 cm/s, dash-dot line: vF = 108 cm/s
However the Hall resistance, which is quite similar to that in Fig. 6, shows no
evidence for the QHE.
6 Transport in quasi-1D epitaxial graphene
Quantum confinement effects manifest in narrow ribbons. As for 2D Hall bars,
this interface graphene layer is charged with about 4 × 1012 electrons/cm2
which corresponds to a Fermi wavelength of about 20 nm. Since the Fermi
wavelength of the low-density layers is about 400 nm, consequently for ribbons
that are narrower than 500 nm, these layers contribute little to the transport.
For very narrow ribbons (≤ 100 nm) with rough edges, the low-density layers
are expected to be insulating, since there are no propagating modes (channels).
Figure 9 shows the Hall resistance and the magnetoresistance of a narrow
ribbon (see Ref. [18] for details). The Landau levels for a graphene ribbon are
approximately given by
En(B, W ) ≈ [En(W )4 + En(B)4]1/4 (1)
where EB(n) =
2neBv20~ and EW (n) = nπ~v0/W [41]. Confinement effects
become apparent for low fields, approximately when the cyclotron diameter
becomes greater than the ribbon width. Confinement will then cause deviation
Fig. 9. Narrow Hall bar 500 nm × 6 µm. The zero field resistance is 1125 Ω. (a)
Magnetoresistance oscillations for temperatures ranging from 4-58 K after subtrac-
tion of a smooth background. (b) Landau plot of the magnetoresistance peaks. The
deviation for large from linearity is due to quantum confinement. (c) The energy
gap between the Fermi level and the lowest unoccupied Landau level is found from
the Lifshitz-Kosevich analysis (inset) of the peaks and increases linearly with field
for large fields and saturates for low fields. The saturation confirms quantum con-
finement.
from the linearity in the Landau plot as seen in Fig. 9. The Lifshitz-Kosevich
analysis confirms the confinement. For high magnetic fields the energy sepa-
ration between the Landau levels increases with increasing field as expected,
while for low field the energy separation saturates and is determined by the
quantum confinement. Note that this analysis does not require a determination
of the locations of the magnetoresistance peaks (Ref. [18]).
The mobilities of the graphene ribbons appears to increase with decreasing
width, Fig. 11. This effect may be related to the reduced back-scattering with
decreasing number of conducting channels. On the other hand, back-scattering
at the ribbon edges should become relatively more important with decreasing
width. The amplitudes of the SdH oscillations are much more pronounced for
narrow ribbons than for high mobility 2D Hall bars.
A relatively large fraction of the high-mobility narrower Hall bar samples do
not exhibit SdH oscillations at all, as seen in Fig. 10. Occasionally rather
complex magnetoresistance structures that in many cases appear not to be
random but exhibit features that are approximately linear in field (like in the
Aharonov-Bohm effect). Several of these systems are found to be coherent
and ballistic. In one case the resistance of a 0.5× 5 µm Hall bar abruptly and
reversibly drops by an order of magnitude at T = 200 K to below 10 Ω/sq. It
appears that scattering at the edges is specular without any back-scattering.
0 2 4 6 8
B (T)
Fig. 10. Magnetoresistance of a 0.2 µm × 1 µm ribbon. The experiment were done
at 4, 8, 12, 30, 45, 60, 90 K, from top to bottom. The resistance has been shifted
for clarity, except for 4 K. The amplitude of the weak localization peak at zero field
is about 1G0.
10 -1 100 101 102 103
Width (micron)
mobility  @4K with Ns=3.4 1012/cm2
10 -2 10-1 100 101 102
Width ( µm )
T=4 K T=250K
Width (µm) Width (µm)
Fig. 11. The width dependence of mobility.
The effects point to a correlated electronic system (Levy, Berger, de Heer et
al., to be published).
7 Structure dependent properties and the absence of the quantum
Hall effect
A key focus of epitaxial graphene research is to develop a new graphene-
based electronics material with shape tunable properties. The intrinsic width
dependent bandgap of graphene ribbons has been born out experimentally
in back-gated deposited exfoliated graphene ribbons [42]. We have not yet
demonstrated the effect in epitaxial graphene, primarily due to problems in
gating the material, which we hope to solve soon.
Currently we have reasonable statistics that appear to suggest that the mobil-
ities of the ribbons actually increase with decreasing ribbon width (Fig. 11).
This intriguing property could be due to the fact that the system becomes
more one-dimensional with decreasing width and thereby that backscattering
is inhibited. On the other hand, the decreasing width also implies that the
edges (which are presumed to be rough) become more important and enhance
the scattering. Apparently that effect is not dominant.
It is remarkable that the SdH oscillations are extremely weak except for very
low mobility samples, that are known to be quite defective (as in Fig. 6).
In fact the SdH oscillations are almost imperceptible in the 2D sample (the
amplitudes are only 0.001 of the mean resistance) even though they are well
resolved up to the 15th Landau level. The weak localization peak is weak
(∼ 0.07G0) and evidence is seen for weak anti-localization. In contrast, the
oscillation of the 2nd Landau level in the low mobility sample 2D is large (0.3
of the mean resistance); this sample may exhibit the quantum Hall effect at
high fields. Furthermore, the weak localization peak is intense (∼ 1G0) In the
intermediate regime, the 1 µm width ribbon exhibits well resolved SdH peaks
(0.016 of the mean resistance) while the weak localization peak is 0.52G0,
weak anti-localization is also present.
Narrow ribbons exhibit more intense weak-localization peaks, well-resolved
SdH oscillations, quantum confinement peaks, and high mobilities but no ev-
idence for the quantum Hall effect. It may be assumed that the QHE in the
high-density layer is shorted out by the low density layers, however this is
not bourn out in simulations. For example, it is not possible to ”convert” the
oscillations of Fig. 9 to those of Fig. 7 by adding the conductivity of many
graphene layers to the former. Note that the relative SdH oscillation ampli-
tudes in Fig. 7 are 16 times smaller than in Fig. 8, while they are more than
20 times smaller in Fig. 6, while the square resistances of all three are within
a factor of 3 from each other.
The fact that the most intense SdH peaks in 2D samples are seen in the most
defective samples, leads us to conclude that defects, specifically in the ”bulk”
of the sample (i.e. away from the edges) are required for large amplitude SdH
peaks, and hence for the QHE.
This point of view is strengthened by the fact that a coulomb (electrostatic)
potential cannot trap Dirac particles [43,44]. Hence, if scattering away from
the edges is primarily from (long-range) coulomb potentials due to counter
ions in the SiC substrate, then these potentials cannot trap the carriers. It
is well known that localized states in the bulk are required for the QHE so
that the absence of such states would inhibit the QHE [45,46]! It would be of
course very important that this conclusion is verified since it so dramatically
departs from observations in deposited exfoliated graphene samples, which
further underscores fundamental differences in these materials.
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	Introduction
	Epitaxial graphene formation and characterization
	Landau level spectroscopy of epitaxial graphene
	Patterning epitaxial graphene 
	Transport in 2D epitaxial graphene
	Transport in quasi-1D epitaxial graphene
	Structure dependent properties and the absence of the quantum Hall effect
	References
