▎ 摘　　要

With its industrial adaptability, graphene-on-silicon (GOS), formed by ultrahigh-vacuum annealing of a SiC thin film on a silicon substrate, is attracting recent attention. Little is known, however, about the growth mechanism of GOS. We demonstrate in this paper that temperature-programmed-desorption spectroscopy of deuterium (D-2-TPD) can be a powerful in-situ probe to investigate the surface chemistry during formation of epitaxial graphene (EG) on SiC crystals. Using the D2-TPD, the surface stoichiometry and the back-bonds of the surface atoms, including their dependence on the crystallographic orientations [Si(111), Si(100), and Si(110)] can be obtained. Difference in the growth mechanism of GOS among the orientations is discussed based on the results. (C) 2011 The Japan Society of Applied Physics