The role of etching on growth of adlayer graphene by chemical vapor deposition

Abstract Understanding the growth mechanism of adlayer graphene is key to preparing a large-area uniform and continuous bilayer or multilayer graphene film, which is essential for electronic and photonic device applications. We synthesized high-quality single-layer graphene (SLG) film with numerous adlayer grains on liquid copper by controllable chemical vapor deposition (CVD). By adjusting parameters related to hydrogen and methane flow, we confirmed a competitive relationship between the etching and the growth of the adlayer, and they can reach dynamic equilibrium during the CVD process. Through the reasonable design of growth time, more details about adlayer growth were revealed. The etched defect is used as the center of carbon injection to grow adlayer under the first layer. For the first time, this research proposes and proves the growth mechanism of etching controlled adlayer growth, which opens a new door for the controllable synthesis of bilayer or multilayer graphene.