We demonstrate the growth of graphene nanocrystals by molecular beam methods that employ a solid carbon source, and that can be used on a diverse class of large area dielectric substrates. Characterization by Raman and Near Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure spectroscopies reveal a sp2 hybridized hexagonal carbon lattice in the nanocrystals. Lower growth rates favor the formation of higher quality, larger size multi-layer graphene crystallites on all investigated substrates. The surface morphology is determined by the roughness of the underlying substrate and graphitic monolayer steps are observed by ambient scanning tunneling microscopy.
@article{arxiv.1202.2905,
title = {Molecular beam growth of graphene nanocrystals on dielectric substrates},
author = {Ulrich Wurstbauer and Theanne Schiros and Cherno Jaye and Annette S. Plaut and Rui He and Albert Rigosi and Christopher Gutiérrez and Daniel Fischer and Loren N. Pfeiffer and Abhay N. Pasupathy and Aron Pinczuk and Jorge M. García},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1202.2905},
year = {2012}
}