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Scanning Tunneling Microscope Study Of Striated Carbon Ridges In Few-Layer Epitaxial Graphene Formed On 4h-Silicon Carbide (0001), Sara E. Harrison, Michael A. Capano, R. Reifenberger

Birck and NCN Publications

Atomically resolved scanning tunneling microscope images of carbon ridge defects found in few-layer graphene formed on the C-face (0001) of 4H-silicon carbide reveal a striated exterior surface formed from out-of-plane distortions of the hexagonal graphene lattice. While ridge formation is likely explained by compressive in-plane stresses coupled with the small values of the bending modulus for few-layer graphene, the striated structure along the ridges argues for a localized unidirectional stress in the material directed along the ridge length.