## 2 Experimental Section  
The preparation of Ni(200 nm)/SiO\({}_{2}\)(300 nm)/Si[100] (further named Ni/Si sample) used as a substrate for carbon implantation has already been reported elsewhere [11,20] and is summarized in Figure 1.  
In order to induce a grain growth, and to limit the sample degassing during high temperature implantation, an initial annealing at 900 \({}^{\circ}\)C during 10 min, under forming gas (H\({}_{2}\)/N\({}_{2}\) at 10%/90%), was performed using Rapid Thermal Annealing (RTA). The heating and cooling rates were estimated to be around 5 \({}^{\circ}\)C/s and 10 \({}^{\circ}\)C/s, respectively. The Ni/Si samples were then implanted with 20 keV \({}^{13}\)C ions at a fluence of 1.4 \(\times\) 10\({}^{16}\) at/cm\({}^{2}\) from a \({}^{13}\)CO source (EURISO-TOP, Saint-Aubin, France, purity 99%), corresponding to around four equivalent graphene monolayers (EGM; 1 EGM is quoted to 3.6 \(\times\) 10\({}^{15}\) at/cm\({}^{2}\)). The implantation was carried out at 600 \({}^{\circ}\)C by using a heated substrate holder in Inconel alloy in a vacuum pressure of 2 \(\times\) 10\({}^{-6}\) mbar during 60 min. More details on the implantation process are given in [20]. The heating and cooling rates were around 20 \({}^{\circ}\)C/min for the implantation occurring at 600 \({}^{\circ}\)C. The temperature at the sample surface was calibrated by using both a thermocouple settled on the back of the substrate holder and an extinction pyrometer in front of the sample. The thickness of the evaporated Ni films (300 nm) was determined by Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy (RBS) (Figure 2). No special alteration of the steep RBS profiles can be observed on the surface side (around 1580 keV), as well at the substrate/nickel side (around 1300 keV), of the nickel film after carbon implantation at 600 \({}^{\circ}\)C. The relative precision of the amount of Ni, before and after implantation, by RBS measurement, is less than 2 \(\times\) 10\({}^{16}\) Ni/cm\({}^{2}\), corresponding to a thickness of 2 nm. Therefore, within this limit, there is no evolution of Ni layer during ion implantation by sputtering.  
Figure 1: Scheme of the preparation of Ni/Si sample.  
Figure 2: RBS profiles of the Ni/Si sample after RTA at 900 \({}^{\circ}\)C and ion implantation at 600 \({}^{\circ}\)C.  
To determine the concentrations of \({}^{13}\)C and \({}^{12}\)C atoms into nickel, NRA induced by a 900 keV deuterons (\({}^{2}\)H) beam through the \({}^{12}\)C(d, p)\({}^{13}\)C, \({}^{13}\)C(d, p)\({}^{14}\)C, \({}^{16}\)O(d, p\({}_{1}\))\({}^{17}\)O and \({}^{16}\)O(d, p\({}_{0}\))\({}^{17}\)O reactions were carried out. The measurements were performed with the 4 MeV Van de Graff accelerator of ICube laboratory. Experimental conditions for NRA were described elsewhere [20]. The spectra were calibrated by using bare SiO\({}_{2}\) and SiC samples for oxygen and carbon nuclear reactions, respectively, and were further analyzed with the home-made SAM software (Systeme d'Analyse des Materiaux) [22].  
Samples were imaged by a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), a Phillips XL-30S operating at 3 kV.  
The Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) measurements were performed on a NT-MDT Stand Alone \"SMENA\" set-up, used in the resonant mode AFM Semicontact with non-contact \"Golden\" Silicon Cantilever NSG11 scanning probes.  
Raman spectra on the TLG were recorded on a [PERSON] (Longjumeau, France) LabRam equipment with an excitation length at 532 nm and a laser fluence of 2.25 mW/\(\upmu\)m\({}^{2}\), chosen to avoid damage to the graphene film during the analyses [23]. The area intensity of each Raman mode is taken for the mappings.