Wafer‐Scale Direct Growth of Ultraclean Monolayer Amorphous Carbon on c‐Sapphire by Remote Catalytic Dehydrogenation

ABSTRACT Atomically thin amorphous carbon holds considerable promise for application in data storage, microelectronics, protective coatings, and flexible electronics. However, its device integration has been hindered by existing direct growth routes that rely on metal catalysts in contact with the substrate, causing metallic residue, film non‐uniformity, and the need for post‐growth processing. Here, we report the direct growth of monolayer amorphous carbon on a 2‐inch sapphire wafer via thermal chemical vapor deposition, in which a remotely positioned catalyst decomposes the carbon precursor into active carbon feedstock, keeping the growth substrate free of metallic contamination. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy detects no catalyst residue across the wafer and confirms a highly sp 2 ‐hybridized carbon network, while electron microscopy reveals a random polygonal carbon network lacking long‐range periodicity. Raman and atomic force microscopy mapping confirm uniform and atomically smooth monolayer coverage, while electrical measurements establish its insulating character with ambipolar, gate‐tunable hopping transport. This synthesis approach provides precise control over thickness and uniformity at the wafer scale, enabling direct device integration of amorphous carbon for a wide range of applications, particularly as an interlayer for epitaxial growth of freestanding semiconductor membranes.