what is the main difference between PECVD and conventional CVD, and which one is better for Graphene synthesis on copper metal? and how to check the quality of the deposited Graphene?
CVD is a great technique to synthesize large-area less defective graphene.
After depositing, you need to do Raman analysis.
The presence of 2D peak in the Raman spectrum, which is due to the Phonon vibration, indicates ultrathin Graphene layer. The D peak arises due to the defects. It should be as less-intense as possible.
AFM will help you to see if there is any discontinuity in the layer.
Talking about only growth, since detailed Raman spectroscopy is more than sufficient enough to tell about quality of the film.
To get high quality graphene, CVD is the most suitable technique.
Advantage of PECVD includes catalyst-free and transfer-free growth at relatively lower temperature. However, PECVD also emerges as deposition unit for graphene growth. Maximum cases resulted with nanographitic structures, vertical graphene structures due to inherent electric field due to plasma. In addition the graphitic structure contains huge amount of defects due to high energy ion bombardment in PECVD. Still, you can find lots of report on graphene synthesis by PECVD, but we need to play more with process parameters.
As compared to CVD, the advantage of PECVD is the lower operating substrate temperatures and relatively high gas decomposition rate. Thus substraction rate is reduced, but the nucleation and film quality are better controlled. The ability of the plasma to support multiple reactive species concurrently is a the key.