THE EFFECT OF IRON ON THE SURFACE GRAPHITIZATION OF SILICON CARBIDE ELIF MERCAN _ I .D. Bilkent University, Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture, Interior Architecture and Environmental Design - Building Science GOKNUR CAMBAZ BUKE * Department of Materials Science and Nanotechnology Engineering, Micro Nanotechnology Graduate Program, TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Ankara, Turkey goknurcambaz@gmail.com Received 22 June 2020 Revised 3 December 2020 Accepted 6 December 2020 Published 6 January 2021 In order to decrease the decomposition temperature of SiC, 12 nm Fe thin ¯lm is applied on SiC substrates as a catalyst layer using electron beam (e-beam) deposition. To investigate the mecha- nism of Fe-treated SiC decomposition, local Fe regions are formed through dewetting of the catalyst layer by hydrogen annealing. The results show that Fe decreases the decomposition temperature of SiC e®ectively and increases the kinetics of the graphitization. Studies showed that depending on the amount of Fe, crumpled and ordered graphene ¯lms can be synthesized simultaneously on SiC by using this method. Keywords: Graphene; silicon carbide; iron; hydrogen; graphitization. 1. Introduction Ever since the graphene was ¯rst isolated and its extraordinary properties were shown, various appli- cations have been proposed for it. Among the alter- native methods, the high temperature-vacuum annealing of SiC has been an attractive route for controlled, continuous and high-quality graphene leading to wafer size material for large-scale device production. 1,2 In this process, Si atoms are subli- mated from the surface selectively and the remaining surface C atoms rearrange to form graphene on the surface. 3 However, temperatures exceeding 1500  C are required to form high-quality graphene 4 in this method. With respect to that, recently a catalyst- based method was developed for obtaining graphene on SiC at lower temperatures. Catalyst-based SiC decomposition method involves depositing a thin metallic ¯lm that reacts with SiC and releases the carbon in SiC. The de- composition of SiC by various transition metals, 5 Co, 6–9 alloy systems 10–12 and Ni in particular, 13–16 has * Corresponding author. Surface Review and Letters, 2150009 (5 pages) ° c World Scienti¯c Publishing Company DOI: 10.1142/S0218625X21500098 2150009-1