Graphene growth by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) was studied on three types of epitaxial metal films with different crystal structures on sapphire. Nickel (face-centered-cubic: fcc), Ru (hexagonal-closed-pack: hcp), and Co (fcc at temperature for graphene growth and hcp at R.T.) were deposited on c-face sapphire substrates and annealed in a furnace for solid phase epitaxial growth. Graphene layers were grown by CVD with methane gas on the epitaxial metal film. The graphene layer uniformity was consistent with the structural simplicity of the metal film. The Ru sample had a single domain in the metal film and the highest graphene uniformity. The Co sample had a very complex crystal structure in the metal film and the poorest uniformity in graphene. The Ni sample had two types of stacking domains in the metal film and the graphene layer was uniform on each domain, but inhomogeneity was observed at domain boundaries.
