Effects of UV light intensity on electrochemical wet etching of SiC for the fabrication of suspended graphene

Abstract

We report on the effects of UV light intensity on the photo assisted electrochemical wet etching of SiC (0001) underneath an epitaxially grown graphene for the fabrication of suspended structures. The maximum etching rate of SiC (0001) was 2.5 μm/h under UV light irradiation in 1 wt% KOH at a constant current of 0.5 mA/cm 2 . The successful formation of suspended structures depended on the etching rate of SiC. In the Raman spectra of the suspended structures, we did not observe a significant increase in the intensity of the D peak, which originates from defects in graphene sheets. This is most likely explained by the high quality of the single-crystalline graphene epitaxially grown on SiC.