In this paper, the structural and electronic properties of epitaxial graphene (EG) grown on 8°-off 4H–SiC (0001) by high temperature thermal processes have been extensively investigated by a combination of several high resolution characterization techniques. The increase in the number of graphene layers with the growth temperature (from 1600 to 1700 °C) was studied by microRaman spectroscopy and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) on cross-sectioned samples. The few layers of graphene reside on a stepped SiC surface with alternating (0001) terraces and (11−2n) facets. Peculiar corrugations (wrinkles) in the graphene membrane preferentially oriented perpendicularly to the substrate steps were also observed. Motivated by recent atomic resolution studies of the EG/SiC interface revealing a local delamination of the interfacial C buffer from the (11−2n) facets, we searched for a …