▎ 摘　　要

We deposited metals (Ti, Co, Pd) typically used as seed layers for contacts on epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001) and studied the early stages of growth in the sub-monolayer regime by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM). All three metals do not wet the substrate and Ostwalt ripening occurs at temperatures below 400K. The analysis of the epitaxial orientation of the metal adislands revealed their specific alignment to the graphene lattice. It is found that the apparent height of the islands as measured by STM strongly deviates from their true topographic height. This is interpreted as an indication of the presence of scattering processes within the metal particles that increase the transparency of the metal-graphene interface for electrons. Even large islands are easily picked up by the tip of the STM allowing insight into the bonding between metal island and graphene surface and into mechanisms leading to metal intercalation.