Unidirectional h-BN_AMT_arXIV_01192023[6].pdf (2.33 MB)
Unidirectional domain growth of hexagonal boron nitride thin films
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-10, 06:02 authored by Abhijit Biswas, Qiyuan Ruan, Cheuk Long Frank Lee, Chenxi Li, Sathvik Ajay Iyengar, Anand B Puthirath, Xiang Zhang, Harikishan Kannan, Tia Gray, A Glen Birdwell, Mahesh R Neupane, Pankaj B Shah, Dmitry A Ruzmetov, Tony G Ivanov, Robert Vajtai, Manoj TripathiManoj Tripathi, Alan DaltonAlan Dalton, Boris I Yakobson, Pulickel M AjayanTwo-dimensional van der Waals (2D-vdW) layered hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) has gained tremendous research interest over recent years due to its unconventional domain growth morphology, fascinating properties and application potentials as an excellent dielectric layer for 2D-based nano-electronics. However, the unidirectional domain growth of h-BN thin films directly on insulating substrates remains significantly challenging because of high-bonding anisotropicity and complex growth kinetics than the conventional thin films growth, thus resulting in the formation of randomly oriented domains morphology, and hindering its usefulness in integrated nano-devices. Here, ultra-wide bandgap h-BN thin films are grown directly on low-miscut atomically smooth highly insulating c-plane sapphire substrates (without using any metal catalytic layer) by pulsed laser deposition, showing remarkable unidirectional triangular-shape domains morphology. This unidirectional domain growth is attributed to the step-edge guided nucleation caused by reducing the film-substrate interfacial symmetry and energy, thereby breaking the degeneracy of nucleation sites of random domains, as revealed by the density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Through extensive characterizations, we further demonstrate the excellent single crystal-like functional properties of films. Our findings might pave the way for feasible large-area direct growth of electronic-quality h-BN thin films on insulating substrates for high-performance 2D-electronics, and in addition would be beneficial for hetero engineering of 2D-vdW materials with emergent phenomena.
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Accepted version
Journal
Applied Materials TodayISSN
2352-9407Publisher
ElsevierExternal DOI
Volume
30Page range
a101734 1-10Department affiliated with
- Physics and Astronomy Publications
Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2023-01-23First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2023-01-23Usage metrics
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