▎ 摘　　要

We present a novel technique of growing UHV graphene using atomic hydrogen etching of SiC(0001)-Si surfaces. Hydrogen atoms generated from a hot tungsten filament selectively etch silicon surface atoms thereby facilitating the Si-sublimation process at temperatures around 1000 degrees C according to Auger Electron Spectroscopy. This allows for separate, non-thermal control of the rate of formation of the interfacial buffer layer formation to yield reduced pit formation observed by scanning tunneling microscopy during subsequent UHV graphene growth. (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V.