We show using scanning tunneling microscopy, spectroscopy, and ab initio calculations that two intercalation structures coexist for Na in epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001). Intercalation takes place at room temperature, and Na electron dopes the graphene. It inserts in between single-layer graphene and the interfacial layer and also penetrates beneath the interfacial layer and decouples it to form a second graphene layer. Decoupling is accelerated by annealing and is verified by Na deposition onto the interface layer combined with computational modeling of the two new decoupled buffer layer structures.

A biased scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip is used to study the ability of carriers in graphene to screen external electrostatic fields by monitoring the effect of tunneling-junction width on the position of image potential-derived surface states. These states are unusually sensitive to local electric fields due to the STM tip in both single layer and bilayer epitaxial graphene. This is attributed to the incomplete screening of applied fields in epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001). Our observations imply that charged impurity scattering is likely to be a dominant factor in the transport properties of epitaxial graphene on SiC.

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The authors report results of spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) measurements in the near-IR, visible, and near-UV spectral ranges using a Woollam dual rotating-compensator ellipsometer, analyzing data in terms of both epitaxial graphene and interface contributions. The SiC samples were cleaned by standard methods of CMP and HF etching prior to mounting in UHV and growing epitaxial graphene by thermal annealing at ∼1400 °C. Most samples were vicinally cut 3.5° off (0001) toward [11−20]. STM measurements show that the initial regular step edges were replaced by somewhat irregular edges after graphene growth. From growth-temperature and Auger data the authors estimate that the graphene is ∼3–4 ML thick. The authors find significant differences among the spectral features of the interface “buffer” layer and those of graphene. Specifically, the hyperbolic-exciton peak reported previously at ∼4.5 eV in graphene shifts to a similarly shaped peak at ∼4 eV in the interface buffer layer. The authors attribute this shift to a significant component of sp3 bonded carbon in the buffer, which occurs in addition to the sp2 bonded carbon that is present in the graphene layer. SE data in the terahertz range obtained by Hoffman et al. [Thin Solid Films 519, 2593 (2011)] show that the mobility values of graphene grown on the carbon face of SiC vary with proximity to the substrate. This leads to the question as to whether an interface layer at the Si face has properties (i.e., dielectric function/complex refractive index) that are different from and/or affect those of the graphene layers.

Pulsed laser deposition was used to grow thin (1–100 nm) magnesium oxide films directly on graphite and epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001). The authors observe very smooth (typical rms roughness of ∼0.4 nm) film morphologies that are nearly independent of film thickness and conformal to the substrate for films grown on room temperature substrates. Surface roughness is less than 1 nm for thicknesses up to 100 nm and is independent of oxygen background pressure during growth. X-ray diffraction shows no evidence of crystallinity for films grown on room temperature substrates but shows ⟨100⟩ texture for films grown on heated substrates that also have very rough surface morphologies. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows hydroxylation of films due to air exposure that can only be partially removed by annealing, indicating the presence of atomic defects in the films.