▎ 摘　　要

NOVELTY - Preparing a surface of an epitaxial graphene sample for atomic layer deposition (ALD) of a dielectric in an ALD reactor, comprises: pre-treating the sample ex situ outside the ALD reactor; and further pre-treating the sample in situ inside the ALD reactor to complete the surface preparation. The ex situ pretreatment step includes: (a) immersing the sample in a solution comprising hydrofluoric acid (HF) and deionized water (DI) for several seconds; and (b) immersing the sample in a warm SC1 solution for several minutes. USE - The process is useful preparing a surface of an epitaxial graphene sample for atomic layer deposition (ALD) of a dielectric in an ALD reactor (claimed) comprising aluminum oxide, hafnium oxide, tantalum oxide or titanium oxide, thus coated graphene is used to fabricate electronic devices comprising FETs and other devices. ADVANTAGE - The process: is simple; provides yet reliable ways to alter the graphene bonding without compromising the electrical or structural properties; and can be easily performed in any solid state physics laboratory or clean room with readily available materials, where the entire surface preparation process takes less than 30 minutes and size limitations are only imposed by laboratory capabilities, and thus the cleaning process does not damage the underlying graphene layer, and thus having no impact on its electrical properties as measured by mobility. DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Preparing a surface of an epitaxial graphene sample for atomic layer deposition (ALD) of a dielectric in an ALD reactor, comprises: pre-treating the sample ex situ outside the ALD reactor; and further pre-treating the sample in situ inside the ALD reactor to complete the surface preparation. The ex situ pretreatment step includes: (a) immersing the sample in a solution comprising hydrofluoric acid (HF) and deionized water (DI) for several seconds; and (b) immersing the sample in a warm SC1 solution or a strong base solution for several minutes. The in situ pretreatment step includes subjecting the pretreated sample to one of a single trimethylaluminum (TMA) pulse and many water pulses. The prepared surface of the sample is suitable for the disposition of a substantially smooth and conformal dielectric layer on it in the ALD reactor. INDEPENDENT CLAIMS are also included for: (1) preparing a surface of sample for ALD of a dielectric in an ALD reactor, comprising pre-treating the sample ex situ outside the ALD reactor, where the ex situ pretreatment step comprises exposing the sample to an active gas diluted in an inert carrier gas to form sp3 bonded carbon atoms on the surface suitable for dielectric nucleation, and subjecting the pretreated sample to one of a single TMA pulse and many water pulses in situ inside the ALD reactor to complete the surface preparation, where the prepared surface of the sample is suitable for the disposition of a substantially smooth and conformal dielectric layer thereon in the ALD reactor; and (2) preparing a surface of an sample for ALD of a dielectric in an ALD reactor, comprising pre-treating the sample ex situ outside the ALD reactor, where the ex situ pretreatment step includes immersing the sample for several seconds in a solution comprising one of diluted piranha (sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide), nitric acid (HNO3:DI), oxygen plasma, potassium nitrite, and sodium nitrate and immersing the sample in a warm SC1 solution for several minutes, and further pre-treating the sample in situ inside the ALD reactor to complete the surface preparation.