Examination of Graphene with Very Slow Electrons

Although graphene has been available and intensively studied for nearly a full decade, new methods are still required for its examination and diagnostics. Even checking the continuity of layers and the reliable counting of layers of graphene and other 2D crystals should be easier to perform. Scanning electron microscopy with slow and very slow electrons offers an innovative tool enabling one to see graphene samples at nanometer or even sub-nanometer lateral resolution in both transmitted and reflected electrons and to count the number of layers reliably in both imaging modes. Diagnostics can be performed in this way on freestanding graphene samples as well as on graphene grown on the surfaces of bulk substrates. Moreover, bombardment with very slow electrons acts as an ultimate cleaning procedure removing adsorbed gases from crystal surfaces which can be monitored in scanned transmission electron images taken at below 50 eV