Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition of amorphous Si on graphene

Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition of thin a-Si:H layers on transferred large area graphene is investigated. Radio frequency (RF, 13.56 MHz) and very high frequency (VHF, 140 MHz) plasma processes are compared. Both methods provide conformal coating of graphene with Si layers as thin as 20 nm without any additional seed layer. The RF plasma process results in amorphization of the graphene layer. In contrast, the VHF process keeps the high crystalline quality of the graphene layer almost intact. Correlation analysis of Raman 2D and G band positions indicates that Si deposition induces reduction of the initial doping in graphene and an increase of compressive strain. Upon rapid thermal annealing, the amorphous Si layer undergoes dehydrogenation and transformation into a polycrystalline film, whereby a high crystalline quality of graphene is preserved.