A table-top formation of bilayer quasi-free-standing epitaxial-graphene on SiC(0001) by microwave annealing in air

Abstract We propose an ultrafast synthesis method to obtain quasi-free-standing bilayer epitaxial-graphene (QFSEG) on SiC(0001). By applying a microwave annealing (MWA) in air to a monolayer epitaxial graphene (EG) grown on SiC(0001), the EG's (6√3 × 6√3) R30° reconstructed buffer layer is decoupled from the SiC substrate and becomes the second graphene layer. Oxidation of the SiC surface is suggested as the most likely mechanism of the decoupling, and the electrical properties of this MWA-QFSEG are actually quite similar to those of the QFSEGs formed by conventional annealing in air. The process time has however been reduced by more than one order of magnitude, which will surely contribute to the betterment of the productivity of the EG-based devices.