Graphene visibility vs. SiO2 thickness

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The discussion focuses on the visibility of single-layer graphene flakes on silicon substrates with varying SiO2 thickness, particularly when the thickness exceeds the optimal 300 nm. The supplier can only guarantee a thickness within 10%, potentially leading to 320 nm, which raises concerns about visibility under an optical microscope. A referenced paper suggests that increased thickness may reduce contrast and shift visibility to different wavelengths. However, participants note that graphene remains relatively easy to observe on surfaces ranging from 250 nm to 300 nm, and visibility is even better on thinner substrates. Overall, slight deviations in SiO2 thickness are not expected to significantly hinder the visibility of graphene flakes.
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Hi,

has anyone had any experience with visibility of single-layer flakes of graphene on substrates with non-optimum thickness of SiO2?
We've been shopping for some Silicon wafers with 300 nm of SiO2, but our supplier can only ensure the oxide thickness within 10% of the specified value. I was wondering if the substrates with, say, 320 nm of SiO2 would still allow the flakes to be visible with an optical microscope.

The only paper I found specifically addressing this problem ("Making graphene visible", http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.0259 ) has a calculated visibility plot which would suggest that at oxide thickness of 320 nm the contrast would reduce and shift to a different wavelength (compared to the thickness of 300 nm) and I was wondering how much of an issue this would be in practice.
 
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It won’t matter so much. Graphene is pretty easy to see on 250-300nm surfaces (it’s even easier to see on 100 non surfaces).
 
A relative asked me about the following article: Experimental observation of a time rondeau crystal https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-025-03028-y I pointed my relative to following article: Scientists Discovered a Time Crystal That Reveals a New Way to Order Time https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/scientists-discovered-time-crystal-reveals-180055389.html This area is outside of my regular experience. I'm interested in radiation effects in polycrystalline material, i.e., grain...

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