Graphitization of Amorphous Carbon Film Based on (111)-Oriented Metal Films

Single crystal metal film has been widely used in two-dimensional materials such as metal chalcogenide, graphene, and <i>h</i>-BN synthesis. Graphene among those materials has been used in active layers for sensors, membranes for flexible electrodes, or heat sinks due to its large surface area, high optical transmittance, and high thermal conductivity. To achieve a high-quality graphene mono-, or multilayers, previous studies required precise vacuum control and a high-temperature annealing process. On the other hand, we focus on easy fabrication through rapid thermal annealing. A thermal conversion method was used to obtain amorphous carbon (<i>a</i>-C) films to be used as graphene seeds from the carbonization of polymers. After that, the metal film was thermally evaporated on the <i>a</i>-C layer to form a metal/<i>a</i>-C/substrate structure. The evaporated polycrystalline metal film can be aligned in the (111) direction through the rapid thermal annealing process, and simultaneously, the transformation from <i>a</i>-C to graphene can occur due to the interaction between the (111)-oriented metal film and the <i>a</i>-C layer. We will investigate whether graphene formation is possible through the above method.