Direct growth of graphene on nitride and oxide substrates

We have directly grown monolayer and few layer graphene on h-BN(0001), MgO(111), and Co₃O₄(111) by a variety of methods, including chemical or physical vapor deposition (CVD, PVD), or molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Such capability is critical to the development of graphene charge- and spin-based devices. In each case, the interactions of graphene with the substrate give rise to distinct graphene properties with significant device implications. These effects include substantial n-type doping (graphene/monolayer h-BN(0001)), formation of a 0.5-1eV band gap (graphene/MgO(111), and magnetic polarization of the graphene conduction electrons (graphene/Co₃O₄(111)). The results on BN and MgO have significant implications for the formation of field effect transistor (FET)-like devices, while the results on Co₃O₄(111) suggest the feasibility of room temperature spin valves with high magnetoresistance and very low power demands.