Epitaxial growth of a single-domain hexagonal boron nitride monolayer
Title | Epitaxial growth of a single-domain hexagonal boron nitride monolayer |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 2014 |
Authors | Orlando, F, Lacovig, P, Omiciuolo, L, Apostol, NG, Larciprete, R, Baraldi, A, Lizzit, S |
Journal | ACS nano |
Volume | 8 |
Pagination | 12063–12070 |
ISSN | 1936-0851 |
Keywords | chemical vapor deposition, hexagonal boron nitride, Ir(111), temperature-programmed growth, X-ray photoelectron diffraction |
Abstract | We investigate the structure of epitaxially grown hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) on Ir(111) by chemical vapor deposition of borazine. Using photoelectron diffraction spectroscopy, we unambiguously show that a single-domain h-BN monolayer can be synthesized by a cyclic dose of high-purity borazine onto the metal substrate at room temperature followed by annealing at T = 1270 K, this method giving rise to a diffraction pattern with 3-fold symmetry. In contrast, high-temperature borazine deposition (T = 1070 K) results in a h-BN monolayer formed by domains with opposite orientation and characterized by a 6-fold symmetric diffraction pattern. We identify the thermal energy and the binding energy difference between fcc and hcp seeds as key parameters in controlling the alignment of the growing h-BN clusters during the first stage of the growth, and we further propose structural models for the h-BN monolayer on the Ir(111) surface. |
URL | http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nn5058968 |
DOI | 10.1021/nn5058968 |