石墨烯具有獨特的電學,熱力學及機械性能,在科學研究和技術領域受到廣泛的關注。特別是,以石墨烯為基礎的石墨烯場效應電晶體近年來得到了快速發展,使其成為後矽基時代的可選用材料之一。不同于傳統的體半導體材料,石墨烯具有獨特的二維結構;它與周圍環境的介面相互作用對石墨烯器件有決定性的影響。研究石墨烯的介面特性在石墨烯應用中具有重要的意義。因此研究者對於發掘在納米尺度上的石墨烯介面規律及由此獨特的介面特性所導致的電子結構、載流子輸運性質和其他相關現象具有濃厚的興趣。在本論文中,我們從實驗和理論兩個方面對石墨烯與不同基底的介面耦合機制,由金屬電極到石墨烯的電荷注入以及其表面的吸附物對石墨烯的摻雜作用進行了深入细致的研究。 / 首先,通過對薄層石墨烯的表面功能化,可以對其電子結構進行有效的控制和調整。在石墨烯薄片表面吸附不同的自組裝有機分子,可以實現對石墨烯的電子和空穴摻雜。另外,我們對由電子束放射產生的摻雜效應也進行了研究。我們發現當利用電子束處理包含不同層數的石墨烯薄片時,可以形成石墨烯pn結。 其次,我們對石墨烯基底對於石墨烯的重要作用進行了深入的探究。由於商用矽片中存在的帶電雜質及石墨烯褶皺對放置於其上的石墨烯樣品產生了極大的影響,使得石墨烯的遷移率遠小於其理論值。為消弱由基底產生的不利影響,我們利用自組裝單分子膜對二氧化矽/矽襯底的表面進行鈍化處理,從而減少不必要的散射。通過鈍化處理,載流子遷移率上升了近一個數量級(達到 47,000 cm²/Vs)。 / 此外,我們對石墨烯與不同金屬電極接觸的介面電學性質也進行了系統研究。我們發現較低的電阻及線性的電流電壓關係對於石墨烯場效應電晶體並非始終成立。對於本征石墨烯,我們發現石墨烯和金屬電極的接觸具有‘空間電荷區限制’和‘歐姆接觸’兩種接觸模式。並且在偏置電壓控制下,接觸電阻可以可逆的在兩種接觸模式中切換。我們發現該現象可以歸結于石墨烯獨特的錐型能帶色散關係。該現象提供了新的製備高密度非易失性石墨烯記憶體的方法。 / Graphene is an appealing material in both science and technology. Its distinct electronic, thermal and mechanical properties have stimulated enormous scientific interest. In particular, graphene-based field-effect transistors (GFET) have been developed rapidly and are now considered an option for post-silicon electronics. In contrast to traditional semiconductors, the unique two dimensional structure of graphene offers the possibility of studying the interface characteristics for its proximity to the top surface and interface between graphene and the outside environment. We are thus interested in understanding graphene surface and interfacial issues associated with electronic structure, carrier transport and related phenomena on a nano-scale. In this thesis, we investigate both experimentally and theoretically the mechanisms of graphene interfacial couplings to different substrates, charge injection from metal electrodes and its interplay with inert adsorbates. / At first, few layer graphene’s (FLG) electronic properties are adjusted efficiently and controllably through functionalizing its top surface. Both n-type and p-type doped exfoliated graphene sheets are present by virtue of adsorbing organic molecules. Additionally, the doping effects induced by electron beam (EB) irradiation are also studied. We find that by irradiating graphene with EB, graphene p-n junctions can be formed if EB irradiation is applied across a single graphene sheet containing regions with different layers. / Secondly, the crucial roles played by the supported substrate in graphene applications are meticulously interrogated. The existence of charge impurities and ripples adversely affects the mobility of high quality mechanically exfoliated graphene on commercially available SiO₂/Si wafers inferior to its theoretical limit. To suppress the deleterious substrate effect, we utilize self-assembled monolayers to passivate the SiO₂/Si substrate surface. After diminishing the unwanted scattering origins by this method, an increase in carrier mobility by nearly one order of magnitude (up to 47,000 cm²/Vs) is obtained. / Furthermore, the electronic properties of the interfaces between graphene and various metal electrodes are systematically investigated. Our study unambiguously reveals that a low electrical resistance as well as a linear current-voltage relation is not always granted for GFETs. Interestingly, for graphene on SiO₂/Si passivated with highly-ordered OTMS, both ‘space charge region limited’ and ‘ohmic’ contacts can be obtained with a single metal electrode. We also find that by utilizing voltage bias, the contact can be reversibly altered between high resistance and low resistance. We ascribe the phenomenon to graphene’s cone energy dispersion relationship as well as the vanishing density of states at the Dirac points. Our results herald a new avenue for achieving high density non-volatile graphene memory devices. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Wang, Xiaomu. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references. / Abstract also in Chinese. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Electronic Properties of Graphene --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.1 --- Graphene Band Structure --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.2 --- Physical Properties of Graphene --- p.4 / Chapter 1.1.3 --- Carrier Transport in Graphene --- p.7 / Chapter 1.1.4 --- Optical Properties of Graphene --- p.9 / Chapter 1.2 --- Motivation and Outline of the Thesis --- p.10 / Chapter 1.2.1 --- Graphene Field-Effect Transistors --- p.10 / Chapter 1.2.2 --- Interface Engineering --- p.15 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Sample Preparation Details and Characterization Techniques --- p.26 / Chapter 2.1 --- Graphene Preparation --- p.26 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Mechanical Exfoliation --- p.26 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Reduced Graphite Oxide --- p.28 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Graphene Synthesis by CVD on Copper Substrates --- p.28 / Chapter 2.2 --- Characterization of Graphene --- p.29 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Optical Microscopy --- p.30 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Raman Spectroscopy --- p.30 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Scanning Probe Microscopic Techniques --- p.32 / Chapter 2.3 --- GFET Fabrication --- p.33 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Photolithography Process --- p.34 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Shadow Mask Method Process --- p.34 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- Lithography-Free Process --- p.35 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Top Surface Modification of Graphene --- p.37 / Chapter 3.1 --- Charge Transfer by Organic Molecules in Doping of Graphene --- p.37 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- Overview --- p.37 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy --- p.41 / Chapter 3.1.3 --- Experimental Details --- p.45 / Chapter 3.1.4 --- P-type Doping of Graphene by F4-TCNQ --- p.47 / Chapter 3.1.5 --- N-tpye Doping of Graphene by VOPc --- p.48 / Chapter 3.1.6 --- Mechanism of Charge Transfer: A Quantitative Analysis --- p.55 / Chapter 3.2 --- Asymmetric Doping of Graphene by Electron Beam Irradiation --- p.66 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Overview --- p.66 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Experimental Details --- p.67 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Transport Measurements --- p.70 / Chapter 3.3 --- Summary --- p.73 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Substrate Modification for Graphene --- p.81 / Chapter 4.1 --- Substrate Effects Adjusted by Thermal Annealing --- p.81 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- Overview --- p.81 / Chapter 4.1.2 --- Experimental Details --- p.82 / Chapter 4.1.3 --- Mechanism of Graphene/Substrate Interaction --- p.84 / Chapter 4.2 --- Modified Substrate by Highly Ordered OTMS SAMs --- p.85 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Overview --- p.85 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Experimental Details --- p.87 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- Transport Measurements --- p.94 / Chapter 4.2.4 --- Summary --- p.111 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Graphene/Metal Contacts --- p.116 / Chapter 5.1 --- Graphene/Metal Contacts --- p.116 / Chapter 5.1.1 --- Overview --- p.116 / Chapter 5.1.2 --- Experimental Details --- p.118 / Chapter 5.2 --- Contact Modes and Related Memory Devices --- p.125 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Bistable Contact Modes --- p.125 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Related Memory Devices --- p.132 / Chapter 5.2.3 --- Contact Mechanism --- p.136 / Chapter 5.3 --- Transport Mechanism for OFF States --- p.147 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- Temperature-Dependent Transport Measurements --- p.148 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- WKB Approximations --- p.151 / Chapter 5.3.3 --- Tunneling between Fermi Liquid and Luttinger Liquid --- p.154 / Chapter 5.4 --- Summary --- p.156 / Chapter Chapter 6 --- Conclusions and Outlook --- p.161 / Chapter 6.1 --- Major Findings and Summary --- p.161 / Chapter 6.2 --- Outlook for Future Research --- p.165 / Chapter Appendix A --- Transport Model of GFET --- p.169 / Chapter A.1 --- Transport Models --- p.169 / Chapter A.2 --- Drift Current Model --- p.171 / Chapter A.3 --- Quantum Transport Theory of GFET --- p.175 / Chapter A.4 --- Brief Outline of NEGF --- p.177

自從2004年人們在實驗室上發現石墨烯以來，IV族二維半導體材料，例如石墨烯、硅烯等，由於其優異的電學、力學、光學、以及熱力學性質，受到學術界的廣泛關注。為了使IV族二維半導體材料得到廣泛引用，穩定地生長高質量的石墨烯、硅烯二維半導體材料以及透徹的理解石墨烯、硅烯二維半導體材料和襯底之間的界面特性成為至關重要的研究方向。本文對在銅表面用多環芳香烴形成石墨烯的生長機理以及石墨烯、硅烯和襯底之間的界面電子學特性進行了詳細的分析和研究。希望以此能對IV族二維半導體材料的廣泛應用具有促進作用，並且對合理的設計電子器件結構具有新的啟示。 / 首先，我們用密度泛函理論對在銅表面用多環芳香烴形成石墨烯的生長機理進行了研究。理論計算表明在銅表面多環芳香烴形成石墨烯的生長過程主要包括：（1）在銅表面的誘導下多環芳香烴脫氫，（2）這些已經脫氫的多環芳香烴在銅表面相互結合形成石墨烯。由於銅和碳的相互作用非常弱，所以在銅表面這些已經脫氫的多環芳香烴並不會進一步分解成更小的碳團簇或者單個的碳原子。因此多環芳香烴的空間幾何構型對於最終形成的石墨烯的質量以及最低成長溫度有至關重要的影響。提高生長溫度可以提升脫氫多環芳香烴的活性和熱運動性，從而提高最終生成的石墨烯的質量。六苯并苯由於具有和石墨烯相同的六重對稱性和晶格結構，所以其在低溫生長高質量石墨烯方面最具有優勢。 / 其次，我們就石墨烯和（0001）二氧化硅表面所組成的界面的電子學特性進行了研究。結果表明石墨烯在（0001）二氧化硅表面的電子學特性主要有二氧化硅表面的性質以及氫化程度決定。如果用末端為甲基的分子修飾（0001）二氧化硅表面，可以進一步減弱二氧化硅表面氧原子對石墨烯電子學特性的影響，從而提高在二氧化硅表面石墨烯的載流子遷移率。此外，當石墨烯物理吸附在二氧化硅表面上時，垂直於石墨烯和二氧化硅界面的外加電場可以調製石墨烯和二氧化硅表面的電荷轉移。這一效應可以增強雙層石墨烯之間的電場，從而有效改變雙層石墨烯的能帶結構。我們的結果有助於更好的地認識和理解石墨烯吸附在二氧化硅表面所表現的實驗現象。 / 基於以上兩個結論，我們用三亚苯合成了高質量的單層石墨烯，並對其在普通二氧化硅表面上以及十八烷基鏈三甲氧基硅烷所修飾的二氧化硅表面上，所體現出的不同電子學性質和散射機理進行了詳細研究。用三亚苯作為石墨烯的生長源可以避免傳統氣象化學沉積方法在初期成核過程中所產生的缺陷，從而得到高質量的石墨烯。電學測量表明，石墨烯在普通二氧化硅表面上的載流子遷移率約為5090 cm²V⁻¹s⁻¹。而在十八烷基鏈三甲氧基硅烷所修飾的二氧化硅表面上，其遷移率可以提高到大約9080 cm²V⁻¹s⁻¹。此外，通過這兩種不同結構的電子器件進行定量的分析和對比，我們發現在室溫下，普通二氧化硅表面上的石墨烯電子器件的平均自由程主要由電離雜質所引起的長程散射所決定，電離雜質散射源密度約為5.34×10¹¹ cm⁻²。而對於十八烷基鏈三甲氧基硅烷所修飾的二氧化硅表面上的石墨烯電子器件的平均自由程主要由甲基以及石墨烯中的缺陷和晶界所引起的共振散射所決定，共振散射源密度為9.77×10¹° cm⁻²。我們的研究結果有助於揭示通過界面修飾來提升石墨烯電子器件性能的內在原理。 / 最後， 我們對單層石墨烯和硅烯封裝在金剛石薄膜和硅薄膜結構的電子學性質，以及其隨壓強的變化，進行了系統的理論研究。結果表明，當單層石墨烯和硅烯封裝在金剛石薄膜和硅薄膜中時，通過改變壓強和堆疊結構，單層石墨烯和硅烯在狄拉克點處的能隙和電子有效質量可以被有效地調製。電子有效質量和壓強成正比。硅烯的能隙對於壓強的變化比石墨烯更加敏感。並且異質封裝結構比同質封裝結構更有利於調製石墨烯和硅烯在狄拉克點處的能隙和電子有效質量。利用封裝技術和改變壓強的方法，石墨烯和硅烯的蜂窩狀結構不會被破壞，所以其小的載流子有效質量和高的載流子遷移率將會保持。所以對於構造高性能的納米電子學器件，這種方法有明顯的應用前景。 / Group IV two Dimensional Semiconductor Materials, such as graphene, silicene and so on, composed of an atomically thin layer of carbon and silicon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice, have received considerable attention, as their extraordinary electronic, mechanical, optical, and thermal properties arise from their unique 2D energy dispersions, since their representive, graphene, experimentally discovered in 2004. Reliable fabrication of high-quality graphene and silicene two dimensional layers and understanding the properties of interface between graphene or silicene two dimensional layers and substrates play an indispensable role for realizing their potential applications in nanoelectronics. This thesis attempts to paint a clear picture about the growth mechanism of graphene from Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) on Cu(111) surface and interfacial electronic properties of graphene and silicene to promote application of Two Dimensional Group IV Semiconductor and shed light on rational design of functional devices. / Firstly, in order to obtain insights into the reaction mechanism, the bottom-up growth of graphene from PAHs on Cu(111) surface has been systematically analyzed by means of large-scale ab initio simulation in a density functional theory (DFT) framework. Theoretical calculation shows that the underlying growth mechanism, which mainly involves surface-mediated nucleation process of dehydrogenated PAHs rather than segregation or precipitation process of small carbon clusters decomposed from the precursors. The quality of the synthesized graphene sheets and minimum growth temperature strongly depends on the structures of PAHs as well as the molecular activities. Increasing the growth temperature will augment the activity of carbon clusters, so as to increase the probability in formation of prefect graphene sheets. Coronene, having 6-fold rotational symmetry and the same lattice as graphene, has the highest probability in forming high quality graphene, especially at relatively low growth temperature. / Secondly, the electronic properties of graphene supported by (0001) SiO₂ surface are theoretically studied using the density functional theory. It is found that the electronic attributes of graphene on (0001) SiO₂ strongly depend on the underlying SiO₂ surface properties and the percentage of hydrogen-passivation. By applying methyl to passivate oxygen-terminated (0001) SiO₂ surface one can further reduce the interaction between the graphene sheet and oxygen-terminated surface. This can improve the charge carrier mobility of graphene supported by SiO₂ substrate and reduce the influence by residual interfacial molecules. In addition, the external electric field modulates the charge transfer between graphene and the SiO₂ surface, when graphene layers are physisorbed on the oxide surface. This phenomenon will enhance the built-in electric field of bilayer graphene so as to effectively modify its band structure. Our results shed light on a better atomistic understanding of the recent experiments on graphene supported by SiO₂. / Based on the above two conclusions, the graphene/substrate interface properties and engineering of bottom-gated, large-scale triphenylene-derived graphene transistors by applying octadecyltrimethoxysilane (OTMS) self-assembled monolayers (SAM) onto the gate dielectric surface are studied. To meet the challenge that the isolated carbon monomers are likely to form defective carbon clusters with pentagons, at the initial stage of CVD graphene growth, triphenylene (C₁₈H₁₂) (pentagon-free with only C and H) was used as the solid precursor for high-quality and large-scale graphene synthesis. Transport measurements performed on back-gated graphene field-effect transistors (GFETs) with large channel lengths (~25 μm) show a carrier mobility up to ~5090 cm²V⁻¹s⁻¹ on SiO₂/Si substrate at room temperature under vacuum. Furthermore we show that in virtue of the ultrasmooth SAM surface and reduced interfacial impurity scattering as well as attenuated surface polar phonon scattering, the GFET carrier mobility on octadecyltrimethoxysilane (OTMS) passiviated SiO₂ surface is consistently improved up to ~9080 cm²V⁻¹s⁻¹, whose graphene active layer has been grown with triphenylene precursor. This makes it promising for practical applications. In addition, in comparison with the devices without interface engineering, triphenylene-derived GFETs with OTMS-SAM modified SiO₂/Si substrate exhibit the marked carrier-density-dependent field-effect mobility. Quantitative analyses reveal that at ambient temperature, the predominant scattering sources affect the carrier mean free path for graphene devices on bare SiO₂ substrates and for those on OTMS passivated SiO₂ substrates are charged impurity induced long-range scattering (~5.34×10¹¹ cm⁻² in carrier density) and resonant scattering (short-range scattering ~9.77×10¹° cm⁻² carrier in density), respectively. Our findings elucidate the underlying dominate factors for achieving the significantly improved device performance of GFETs at room temperature. / Finally, by exploiting first-principles calculations, we show that the band gap and electron effective mass (EEM) of various confined graphene and silicene (D-X/G/H-D, Si-X/S/H-Si and D-X/S/H-D) can be effectively modulated by tuning the pressure (interlayer spacing) and stacking arrangement. The electron effective mass (EEM) is proportional to the band gap. The band gap of confined silicene is more sensitive to pressure than that of confined graphene. Moreover, heterogeneous interface would be beneficial to effectively control the band gap and carrier effective masses of confined graphene and silicene. Using the confined technique and pressure, the integrity of the honeycomb structure of graphene and silicene will be preserved, so the small effective masses and high mobility of graphene and silicene will remain during compression. The tunable band gap and high carrier mobility of the sandwich structures are promising for building high-performance nanodevices. / The aforementioned four sub-topics form the mechanistic understanding of graphene growth by PAHs and interfacial electronic properties of graphene and silicene down to the molecular level. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Chen, Kun. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013. / Includes bibliographical references. / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Abstract --- p.II / 博士學位論文摘要： --- p.VI / Acknowledgements --- p.X / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction to Growth Methods and Electronic Properties of Graphene and Silicene --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Electronic Properties of Graphene --- p.2 / Chapter 1.1.1 --- The Direct Lattice and the Reciprocal Lattice --- p.2 / Chapter 1.1.2 --- Electronic Band Structure --- p.6 / Chapter 1.1.3 --- Tight-Binding Energy Dispersion --- p.7 / Chapter 1.1.4 --- Massless Dirac Fermions --- p.15 / Chapter 1.1.5 --- Carrier Density and Effective Mass --- p.21 / Chapter 1.1.6 --- The Tight-Binding Model of Bilayer Graphene --- p.24 / Chapter 1.1.7 --- The Two-Component Hamiltonian of Bilayer Graphene --- p.29 / Chapter 1.1.8 --- Trigonal Warping in Graphene --- p.32 / Chapter 1.1.9 --- Tunable Band Gap in Bilayer Graphene --- p.36 / Chapter 1.2 --- Synthesis of Graphene --- p.38 / Chapter 1.2.1 --- Exfoliation and Cleavage --- p.39 / Chapter 1.2.2 --- Thermal Decomposition of SiC --- p.40 / Chapter 1.2.3 --- Chemical Vapor Deposition of Graphene --- p.42 / Chapter 1.3 --- Electronic Properties at Graphene/Substrate Interface --- p.55 / Chapter 1.3.1 --- Graphene on SiO₂/Si Substrates --- p.56 / Chapter 1.3.2 --- Graphene on Hexagonal Boron Nitride (h-BN) --- p.60 / Chapter 1.3.3 --- Graphene on Organic Self-Assembled Monolayer (SAM) Passivation of Bared SiO₂/Si --- p.61 / Chapter 1.4 --- Synthesis and Electronic Properties of Silicene --- p.63 / Chapter 1.4.1 --- Synthesis of Silicene --- p.64 / Chapter 1.4.2 --- Electronic Properties of Silicene --- p.65 / Chapter References --- p.67 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Introduction to Density Functional Theory --- p.75 / Chapter 2.1 --- Many-Particle Hamiltonian --- p.75 / Chapter 2.2 --- Born-Oppenheimer Approximation --- p.76 / Chapter 2.3 --- Hartree-Fock Method --- p.77 / Chapter 2.4 --- Density Functional Theory (DFT) --- p.77 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Hohenberg-Kohn Theorems --- p.77 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- Kohn-Sham Method --- p.79 / Chapter 2.4.3 --- Kohn-Sham Equation --- p.80 / Chapter 2.4.4 --- Solution of Kohn-Sham Equation --- p.80 / Chapter 2.5 --- Electron Density Approximation --- p.80 / Chapter 2.5.1 --- Local Density Approximation (LDA) --- p.80 / Chapter 2.5.2 --- Generalized Gradient Approximation (GGA) --- p.82 / Chapter 2.5.3 --- Hybrid Functionals --- p.82 / Chapter 2.6 --- Plane Waves Expansion --- p.83 / Chapter 2.7 --- Pseudopotentials --- p.84 / Chapter 2.7.1 --- Ultrasoft Pseudopotentials (USPP) --- p.86 / Chapter 2.7.2 --- Projector Augmented Wave Potentials (PAW) --- p.87 / Chapter 2.8 --- DFT+U --- p.88 / Chapter References --- p.89 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- ab initio Study of Growth Mechanism of Graphene from Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons --- p.91 / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.91 / Chapter 3.2 --- Experimental Results --- p.93 / Chapter 3.3 --- Calculation Method --- p.94 / Chapter 3.4 --- Calculation Results and Discussion --- p.96 / Chapter 3.5 --- Conclusion --- p.109 / Chapter References --- p.109 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Electronic Properties of Graphene Altered by Substrate Surface Chemistry and Externally Applied Electric Field --- p.113 / Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.113 / Chapter 4.2 --- Calculation Method --- p.115 / Chapter 4.3 --- Results and Discussion --- p.116 / Chapter 4.4 --- Conclusions --- p.133 / Chapter References --- p.134 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- High Performance Devices Based on Large-Scale Triphenylene Derived Graphene and Interface Engineering --- p.138 / Chapter 5.1 --- Introduction --- p.138 / Chapter 5.2 --- Experimental Section --- p.140 / Chapter 5.3 --- Results and Discussion --- p.144 / Chapter 5.4 --- Conclusion --- p.163 / Chapter References --- p.164 / Chapter Chapter 6 --- Controllable Modulation of Electronic Properties of Graphene and Silicene by Interface Engineering and Pressure --- p.169 / Chapter 6.1 --- Introduction --- p.169 / Chapter 6.2 --- Modeling and Methods --- p.171 / Chapter 6.3 --- Results and Discussion --- p.174 / Chapter 6.4 --- Conclutions --- p.200 / Chapter References --- p.201 / Chapter Chapter 7 --- Conclusions and Future Plans --- p.204 / Chapter 7.1 --- Conclusions --- p.204 / Chapter 7.2 --- Future Plans --- p.206 / List of Publications during Ph.D. Study --- p.207

It is generally believed that the Si technology is going to hit a road block soon. Amongst all the potential candidates, graphene shows the most promise as replacement material for the aging Si technology. This has caused a tremendous stir in the scientific community. This excitement stems from the fact that graphene exhibits unique electronic properties. Physically, it is a two-dimensional network of sp₂bonded carbon atoms. The unique symmetry of two equivalent sublattices gives rise to a linear energy dispersion for the charge carriers. As a consequence, the charge carriers behave like massless Dirac particles with a constant speed of c/300, where c is the speed of light. The sublattice symmetry gives rise to unique half-integer quantum hall effect, Klein's paradox, and weak antilocalization. In this research work, I was able to successfully study the growth and electronic structure of EG on SiC(0001), in ultra-high vacuum and low-vacuum furnace environment. I used STM to study the growth at an atomic scale and macroscopic scale. With STM imaging, I studied the distinct properties of commonly observed interface region (layer 0), first graphene layer, and the second graphene layer. I was able to clearly resolve graphene lattice in both layer 1 and 2. High resolution imaging of the defects showed a unique scattering pattern. Raman spectroscopy measurements were done to resolve the layer dependent signatures of EG. The characteristic Raman 2D peak was found to be suppressed in layer 1, and a single Lorentzian was seen in layer 2. Ni metal islands were grown on EG by e-beam deposition. STM/ STS measurements were done to study the changes in doping and the electronic structure of EG with distance from the metal islands.