We have studied epitaxial graphene grown on SiC by chemical vapour deposition. In the work, two kinds of graphene layers were evaluated, a single layer graphene and a quasi-free-standing graphene obtained by hydrogen intercalation under the buffer layer. To evaluate the influence of the different nature of both graphene layers on the structural properties, different in-situ and ex-situ surface techniques were used. Thus, the investigation compares the structural features of the different regions within the surface, such as steps, terraces or stripes for both samples by using spatial resolution techniques (STM, LEEM). Besides, XPS, PEEM and KPFM gave information about the chemical environment and the electronical properties of those graphene layers. For both kind of samples, a majority contribution of monolayer graphene was detected at the terrace areas while a bilayer and trilayer graphene presence was observed at the steps and stripes.
This work has been published in Appl. Surf. Sci., 466 (2019) 51: “Structural characterization of as-grown and quasi-free standing graphene layers on SiC” by R. A. Bueno, I. Palacio, C. Munuera, L. Aballe, M. Foerster, W. Strupinski, M. García-Hernández, J. A. Martín-Gago and M. F. López.